The Passey's

A fun and wet Family Home Evening

2012-01-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

The kids and I started the day in Heber. They hung out with Grandma Jacobson while I did a little work.

Then we came home and got Dad and drove then walked up to the falls. It really was beautiful.
We waded around a bit. And got our picture taken.

On the way back it started to rain really hard. It even hailed a bit. We had to hide under the trees until the hail turned back into rain. Daniel loves playing in the rain.
By the time we got back to the parking lot there were some pretty big puddles, so we did what any one would have done and jumped and splashed in them.
It was still raining. And it was a lot of fun. So fun that we had to stop at Farr's Ice Cream bar and get a treat.

Jon's muddy bike ride

2012-01-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

There are some great biking rails in Midway, Jon took his bike out and had a great ride but got pretty muddy.

Daniel's Summer Castle 7/30/2011

2012-01-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

Daniel loves to create things. He made this great thing out of paper and a gold fish cracker box. He decided that he needed some money so he set up a stool on the side walk in front of out house. Set his "summer castle" on it and started calling loudly "summer castle! Come get your summer castle! It's only five quarters! Summer Castle get your summer castle here!" It was so cute in inventive. I wish someone would have bought it :) Oh well maybe next time.

Leah and Eden's 3rd birthday party...

2012-01-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

I spent the day before Leah's party making bunny cake pops It was a day of tragic hillarity. I had never made cake pops before. I had this great idea to use sculpted tootsie rolls to make the bunny ears...they turned out really cute...

Until they started to melt when I dipped them in Milk chocolate....then they just looked really grotesque.. and sad... and funny :) they were exceptionally tasty though because I used really good ghirardelli milk chocolate. Jon was very happy that I decided they were to ugly and disturbing looking for the party.

This was the best looking one.

The second attempt turned out much better. I used sweedish fish for ears and it also helped that I followed the recipe and smooshed a can of frosting in with the crumbled cake. It held together much better that way.

Some of them still looked a little sad though.

The kids had a fun water party in the back yard

with the cool porcupine that Michelle and Burdette brought

Then the kids went downstairs to play and the next tragedy began...Leah came upstairs and said. She had a tuck in her nose. We kind of laughed it off but she was pretty persistent that she had something in her nose. So I looked and saw a white thing... It was stuck up there pretty good, but Jon was confident that he could get it out. I had to pin her down between myself and the back of the couch I had my legs wrapped around her legs and was trying to hold her arms and head still. She really didn't want us to pull it out. Jon got the tweezers and was finally successful. She was very mad at him after and wouldn't talk to him for a few hours. Poor thing. Hopefully she wont go poking anything else up her nose. Below is a picture of the game piece. She had stuck it up fat side first and I am sure that it hurt coming out.

After being tortured by her parents, Grandma did a good job comforting her.

Leah trying hard to be happy after the traumatic extraction

I mad a small cake so she would have something to put the candles in.

Cake pops were a hit. Very yummy..if slightly sad looking

Finally the girls got to open presents. I love this picture of Eden, she was so excited to get littlest petshop guys.

Daniel made a birthday card that he put on the present that he made and wrapped for Leah. I love that he drew little curls on her head.

This is Leah's I am so excited face. She really did like the necklace Daniel made for her.

She really seemed to have a hard time smiling after the game piece in nose incident... this was the best shot I got. A classic Leah nose crinkle and squint. Hopefully next year won't be so traumatic :)

Jensen trip out to Strawberry and Leah in a pot

2012-01-13T14:15:00.001-08:00

We had a fun time going to see the fish up by strawberry with the family. This spot were Leah is we could see fish jumping up to get the bugs.
We found a lonely little duckling in the grass with no mom in sight. Hope he made it.
Leah and the other kids thought that it was fun climbing around on the walls.

Jordan had fun keeping track of Leah for me. We forgot her shoes so she had to be carried over the hot wood bridges.
She got hold of Great Grandpa Jensen's big walking stick.

This is kind of a random picture but cute. Leah climbed into Jon's stock pot.

Jon's Birthday and Lightning Mcqueen day

2012-01-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

The kids and I walked to the store and picked up some balloons to surprise Jon when he got home from work. He actually beat us home and went looking for us in the car. He picked us up on the side of the road with the cumbersome balloons. (they kept whacking me in the face I was letting Leah hold them in the stroller) Daniel Decided that it was also Lightning Mcqueen Day so he dressed appropriately and got some of he things out to take a picture with him.

Yay! Balloons!
This is his happy face. No. Really. :)

Getting to hold a brand new cousin! Baby Logan is here!

2012-01-13T12:30:00.000-08:00

We got to go visit Michelle and her family. My kids just couldn't get enough of the cute new baby and neither could I. He is so sweet.

Love the little red mow-hawk!

Planet Play

2012-01-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

We went to Planet Play and Pizza Pie Cafe with James and Macie and Macie's Sister and Brother in-Law. It was a lot of fun and the Pizza was really good. Especially the desert pizza. We really had a great time on the bumpercars and go cart track. We liked the go carts so much we did them over and over again.

Daniel got to drive by himself!
Learning to shoot

Daniel the biker dude.

Learning to golf
Leah didn't care much for golf but she loved climbing on the concrete creatures
Macie's sister Mandy took a lot of pictures for us witch was awesome because I got more pictures and there are even some with me in them :)

I woke up and there was a dragon on my arm!

2012-01-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

Leah had snuck some markers into her room, this is what she looked like when I found her and when I asked what happened she said "I woke up and there was a dragon on my arm."

More Art by Daniel

2011-08-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Leah is the one in front of the pig with the curls.
This is another picture of Jon coming home from work. This time at night. You can see Daniel waiting in the window. I love this one.
Daniel is really good at pigs and writing his and Leah's names.

Climbing the tree, a bubble bath and Sunday morning.

2011-08-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

Daniel has gotten pretty good at climbing the tree in Grandma and Grandpa Jacobson's back yard. Cute Sunday morning pictures

Two kids in the bubbles.

Some random February pictures.

2011-08-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

I think Leah took this lovely picture of Daniel.

My cute kids being cute.
Daniel multitasking riding while sweeping, and Leah tooting a pvc pipe horn. (pretty sure these aren't in February seeing how green the grass is...but the they were in the same group of photos.)
This one is for my brother Jordan who is always sticking his tongue out when you take his picture.
A self portrait by Leah.
Leah the monkey, clinging to Dads back.
Gotcha Dad.

Artwork by Daniel 2/3/2011

2011-08-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Daniel really likes to draw and make things. He made this great picture of Jon and his car and our red brick house with a flower and a nice sunny day. I zoomed in on Jon and the car so you could see how cute they are.

One Day Daniel really wanted to write the word cat to put by his drawing of a cat. This one is actually the final draft after he got some help.

This is the first draft that he attached to a cute little house that he colored and cut out himself. He got the number of letters right, just didn't know what he was spelling :)

William's Birthday Party at Monkey Island.

2011-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Leah really liked the marry go round.

This is the only time Daniel was still enough to get a picture.
Random picture of Leah and Eden eating apples.
Leah climbing up to go down the big slide. Daniel was at the top encouraging her to come all the way up.
Leah really loved the monkey's She watches Curious George a lot and while she was there every time she walked by a monkey she ran up and gave it a loving hug. It was super cute.
Thanks Michelle and Burdette for inviting us to such a fun Birthday!

Decorating Valentines cookies and building train tracks

2011-07-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

Mom and I found two big boxes of wooden trains and tracks and the thrift store. We had a lot of fun covering the entire living room floor with them.
Leah Loves Grandma and loves cookie dough.
Daniel made me a V cookie.
Leah ate a lot of cookie dough.
Daniel can decorate cookies with William and wink ;)

Now that is how you eat a frosted cookie with lots of sprinkles.

I'm pretty sure that one of both of them licked the frosting off of the lid too.

A few weeks before Valentines Day Grandma Jacobson. Helped the kids make and decorate cookies. They of course loved it. Leah and Eden really liked putting frosting and sprinkles on, licking them off and putting more on.

My big five year old!

2011-05-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

January 11

We celebrated the birth of our son Daniel James Passey. He is five years old and we love him so much. Daniel had a great time on his birthday. We had family, cake balloons and presents! What more can you want?

*warning: there are a ton of pictures.

The cake/cupcakes

mmmm. Cake.

Daniel's cousin Chris showing them how it is done.

Daniel and William trying to make the helicopter Grandma Passey and Christopher, Meryn and Katelyn gave him fly.

Not quite sure how the napkins are helping.

The squinty smile

Eden Showing off Grandma's watch and lots of crazy bandz

Daniel testing out his new easel from Grandma and Grandpa Great.

Leah and Katelyn

I just love this one. Even though there are way too many pics on this post.

The Lady killer. Who can resist a face like that?

Snow and a black eye

2011-05-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

We got a lot of snow and the kids had a blast, shoveling, playing, and getting buried in it.

Daniel sat on the top of the snow hill while Joe and I

shoveled/ snow blowed he got a little buried.

Leah was a big help with the shoveling
Daniel took a break from being buried to test his scooter
Leah discovered that If you get stuck you can always

grab a bite to eat
She waded all the way out there by herself. Quite the

feat in deep snow and a snow suit.
Daniel showing me the snow ball he is about to throw at me.
Yum!!
Daniel trying to give Leah some help up the snow hill.

The snow this winter was crazy. It snowed another foot while we were out there shoveling.

And just for fun and documenting purposes. Here is Jon and his lovely black eye that he got from standing up, turning around and walking right into a beam. Ouch.

Christmas

2011-05-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

Somehow I can't find many of my Christmas day pictures... The days before Christmas I spent a lot of time making stuffed animals out of gloves and socks. I made a tiger for Daniel, a doll for Leah, a chipmunk for eden and a lion for William. I made a dog, an elephant, some fish and mice, it was quite fun and I was a bit obsessed. I also made aprons for Leah and Eden that turned out really cute, and fuzzy blankets for Daniel and Leah. I guess this was kind of a crafty Christmas for me :) We had a lot of fun with our visiting family. We are still living with my parents so every one came to see "us". James and Macie spent the night and every one else showed up at some point. I was really nice to see and play with every one. If I had written this post closer to Christmas I would probably have something more profound to say but I don't so you will have it imagine how lovely it was "unless you were here of course"

Daniel showing Leah how to play with her

Doll. You can see his rocket in the background.

My funny kids. They like to be close (sometimes)

The aprons, the Lion, the doll, the fish, the chipmunk

and the mice that I made. And of course cute silly Leah

Pumpkin Carving!

2011-03-07T21:38:00.000-08:00

Love Carving Pumpkins and Halloween!

Leah Got to poke things into her pumpkin she had a lot of fun pulling the pieces out and putting them back in again.
Daniel was not sure if he liked digging the snotty slimy guts out, but he was very brave and determined!
Jon and his Giant cannibal pumpkin. I really thought that the small pumpkin was a nice touch.

Daniel Had a lot of fun making Jack-o-Lantern Faces! ha ha

Leah making her own kind of pumpkin face .

Leafy snowman in October

2011-03-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

The kids were so excited when we got snow. We had to hurry out and make a snowman before it melted. It was just perfect for packing snow together and kind of funny because he ended up covered in leaves. Daniel made one of the balls all by himself and Leah had her own small one to push around too. So much fun!

We started in the backyard and rolled the balls to the front to get more snow.

The Zoo

2010-11-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

We went to the zoo in September. It was really fun, the kids had a lot of fun looking at all of the animals, especially the monkeys and elephants. They also liked climbing on the statues and enjoying their cousins.

I forgot my regular camera so all we have is videos. The blogger player is poor quality so maybe i'll try something else.

The next one you have to pay attention right at the beginning to hear Leah say Arangatan(I have no idea how to spell this). It is really cute.

Last video of us trying to get a good picture of all of the kids in front of this wall. It is quite comical actually.

Crafty Daniel

2010-11-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

This is a hat that Daniel made with paper and tape. I don't think you can see it in the pictures but it has a place for him to keep his pens and crayons. He is so creative. It really amazes me.

July, Leah and Eden's Birthday party

2010-11-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!!

We were so happy to celebrate Leah's 2nd birthday this summer. She brings so much love and adventure into our lives. Time has gone by so fast, I can't believe we have already had her second birthday. It turned out to be a pretty big party. Since Leah's cousin Eden is only a day older than her we have enjoyed celebrating their birthdays together. Leah got a bunch of bubble blowing stuff from Michelle and Burdette so we spent much of the partying time blowing bubbles and making a big soapy mess. It was really fun to try to work together to make a huge bubble.

Leah got a new bike and helmet. I thought she would really like to ride it since she is always trying to get on Daniels but she still doesn't want to get on it yet. She does like wearing her helmet.

The wind kept blowing out the candles so the girls didn't get to. I love how in this video Eden keeps tasting the cake while Leah is just thrilled to have everyones undivided attention. Leah and Eden couldn't wait to get their hands on the cake, we weren't planning on letting them just dig in like last year, but we still wanted to get pictures of them with their cakes. Eden was the winner and got a good sampling while we were singing.

We also had fun painting watermelons on our toenails a few days earlier and got a picture together. Can you tell who's feet these are?

Jensen Family Camp

2010-11-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Family camp this summer was so much fun! We loved playing with our family for a few days and also enjoying the wilderness. I wish I could have taken a picture of the stars. My aunt Jan and I got to sit out one night and enjoy the amazing view of the night sky with no clouds and not much light pollution. It really gives you the feeling of wonder and how small we are in this huge universe. I can't wait to do it again. We also go to go to bear lake and play in the water. My kids really liked playing in the shallow pools, digging up shells and watching the tiny fish swimming in the shallows. I have the best family. I love spending time with them so much. I am always very great full for the opportunity to go out in the woods and enjoy them and the wilderness at the same time. Here are some pictures of the fun that we had. Daniel and Sadie

Leah watching Luke whittle

Leah and Joe

Dallan teaching Leah how to dig a proper hole.

Amanda Singing her heart out

(I actually can't remember if she was singing or talking)

A healthy game of speed scrabble

Jay and Tobias
The guys

Daniel and Chloe Created a game
One of them held a stick up to the tree...
The other one had to climb up to the stick

Daniel and Chloe spent hours hunting for

green bee bee's

Daniel posing in the dark while we wait for

the bathroom to be available.

Fun at the beach and in the water

Megan

Kit
Sean
Katrina
Ashley and Leah

Trouble

Jon made this Lemon cake for Joe"s Prom last year

2010-11-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

It was tasty and beautiful.

I am going to write a few blogs to catch up.

2010-11-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

This summer Jon cooked a lot and also worked to get his NSCA certification to become a personal trainer. One of the yummy recipe's that he likes to make is Kung Pao Chicken. It is really yummy. He also has a blog that he has been trying to update regularly. It contains recipes, and health and fitness information. If you haven't been over to check out his blog yet you should.http://www.forhealthandstrength.com/?p=69Here is a picture of Kung Pao Chicken.

Family Pictures

2010-05-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

Back in February we tried to take a family picture. Jon's parents were coming home from their mission in South Dakota and Jon's sisters had a great idea to put new family pictures of all of their children's families up in there house. (sorry for the long convoluted sentence, I am to lazy to go back and make it sound better)So I gave Daniel a haircut... and we went out in the cold February air to take a perfect family picture. Unfortunately it was a bit difficult to get every one to look and smile at the camera at the same time. But we got a pretty good one in the end.

Leah doesn't look like me at all... No resemblance *sarcasm detected*

We also tried to get a picture of the kids together being cute and it was all going swimmingly until Daniel bumped his head on the tree when he sat down. (you've got to click on it and see it full size to really appreciate it)

After that it was a little more difficult to get him to pretend to be happy for the family picture. But he was a good sport, with a little bribery, and tried really hard.

Then we tried again for the cute kid picture. We got some funny and cute ones. Daniel was all for snuggling up to Leah and being a cute big brother... Leah was a bit less cooperative.

Playing peek-a-boo around the tree worked well though :)

I eventually got them to sit back down by the tree but by now they were freezing and with that, the bump on his head, and being rejected by his sister Daniel was about done.

Daniel's 4th Birthday

2010-03-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

My son Daniel is four years old! He was born January 11, 2006. This post is a little late :) I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be Daniel's mother. Daniel is such a sweet boy. He always has had easy smiles and loves being the center of attention. Daniel has always been a strong, happy boy since the day he was born. He came into this world ready to learn and grow. Daniel has also always been a very cautious boy. He wants so badly to do everything that every one else does but he is very afraid of getting hurt(he is a lot more brave now than he used to be though). When he was a new baby I would pat his back to burp him and he would startle every time my hand hit his back. Even though he is afraid he still try's to overcome his fear. Jon likes to throw Leah up in the air and she laughs and loves it. Daniel sees how fun it is and tells Jon to do it to him to. So Jon does it with Daniel, and he is terrified but puts on a brave face, and tells Jon to keep doing it. I learn a lot from him. I am always surprised at his creativity and ability to learn.

Here are some things that Daniel loves to do:

- play outside
- play cars
- tie things up
- build forts
- build towers
- draw (he has always been a very focused artist)
- make his sister Leah laugh
- watch movies
- puzzles (I am always amazed how good he is at puzzles, he did a 5 to 7 year old one by himself the other day)
- read with mom and dad
- play with cousins and friends especially William and Rachel
- ride his bike

We love you Daniel Happy Birthday.

Christmas 2009

2010-03-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas in Heber with our family. Christmas is so fun with little kids. Daniel is old enough now to understand more and to get excited. We had a ward Christmas party and Santa came. Daniel was eager to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. I wondered if he would get scared and decide not to but he loved it. Jake took a picture I will have to get it from them and post it later. He told Santa that he wanted Lightning McQueeen cars. He got 9 of them. I pretty much shopped all year for Christmas and I didn't realize how much I had gotten...he he.. It was crazy and fun.

Leah opening her present from Grandma Jacobson

Leah Got a black eye just before Christmas. She tripped in the kitchen and dove right into the handle on drore. (apparently I have no idea how to spell that)

So I have taken a sabbatical...

2010-03-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it has been a while since I have posted anything on here. I promise to start updating about my family regularly again...Just not tonight :) It has been a bit hard to find time to blog. I have been changing my habits and trying to be more healthy and more productive in my life. Right now I am focusing on fitness, once it gets to be more routine I will focus on something else. I just wanted to let any one who is interested know about my new website. I will still be posting family updates on this one but I started a blog to help me to keep track of my diet and exercise. I decided to put it online so If any one wanted to join me or share ideas they can, and I am going to enter in a summary of what I did each day, at least as far as diet and exercise. I am excited about it and hope that is isn't too terribly boring. I am just a teensy bit embarrassed but oh well. It is working so far, even though no one is reading yet:D I think there is a way to make it so my friends can have their own pages.. I will have to talk to James more about that though and see how it all works. Oh yeah...he he I almost forgot to post the web address silly.. http://www.fearofflabbiness.com/

Breakfast

2009-12-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

This morning Jon was making breakfast. He asked Daniel what he wanted. He said he didn't know yet. A little while later Jon asked him if he knew what he wanted yet and he said "yeah but it's a secret" I few minutes later Jon found Daniel hiding under the table eating a roll. I'm not sure why he thought that he couldn't have a roll but later in the day I found him under the table again eating another one.

2009-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday It snowed and snowed and snowed. Daniel was so excited to go outside and play in it. when I asked him what he wanted for breakfast he told me that he was too tired to eat. I told him that if he didn't eat he couldn't go out side. He quickly decided he wasn't too tired anymore. Leah was excited to go outside too. Daniel immediately jumped right in. He dragged the shovel around the yard and found the deepest snow at the edge of the road and laid down in it. He pretended that he was stuck. Leah on the other hand, was NOT impressed. She got upset that her boots were dirty and She had a hard time walking around and fell face first into the snow. She was of course then crying and Jon came to her rescue. She stayed outside a little longer and watched from the safety of the garage where there wasn't any of the strange cold white stuff to cause her anymore problems. It was really cold so even Daniel didn't stay out that long but he stayed out until his "face" got too cold.

Beading

2009-12-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

Lately my mom has been making watch bands and things with beads. She has collected quite a few over the years. Leah loves necklaces and bracelets. She also love to climb. We don't usually let her stay on the table once she climbs up there but I had to get some pictures before I got her down. The other night mom and I were both sitting there playing with the beads and Leah came in and said "UP" in a really funny and force full voice, like she was demanding be let in on the fun. She calls necklaces "pretty" and loves to wear them around the house. She also really likes purses. She will put things in a purse and carry it around too. It is so funny the obvious difference between my boy and my girl!

California

2009-10-20T09:29:00.001-07:00

I went with my Parents to My brother Jake's wedding in California. Jon had to stay and work and the kids stayed home too, so I was missing them for the three days we were gone. It was a nice trip though. The room we stayed in was kind of funny. We thin it was made to look like a grain silo. The walls were all concrete and there was a rusty metal diamond shape on the wall(not sure what that was about) It was pretty quiet and we all slept well though. It was also a funny shape it had seven walls.

The wedding day was perfect although I did get a bit of a sunburn. And I thought everything went pretty well. Me, James and Joe hung out together a lot and it was fun spending time with them like that. I was wishing my family could have been there with me. The temple was amazing and beautiful. Jake and Ashley looked happy and I am excited for them. I got a few fun pictures.

I decided that I am not a very entertaining writer so I better post a lot of pictures :)

An update.

2009-10-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Daniel still loves to build. A few weeks ago he built this garage for his cars. It was really cool. It reminded me of the "Cozy Cone Motel" on Disney's Cars. He really is creative. He has also been building a lot of huts out of pillows and blankets all over the house. last night he built one in his room next to his bed.

Daniel is now finally pretty much potty trained. He goes to the bathroom without me telling him too, and he even sleeps in underwear and has only had two night time accidents in the last month or so. He is really doing great and I am excited. My stress levels have gone down dramatically now that I am not worried about accidents and reminding him all day. He even does a good job when we go shopping, he just tells me when he needs to go. It is so nice. One funny though is that Jon showed him how to pee in the bushes if we were camping or something, and the other day it had been a really long time since he had gone and I told him he should probably go. He told me that he peed outside in the bushes. When I tried to tell him that he should have come in the house he told me that Daddy said it was ok. As much as I tried to convince him otherwise he was determined that it was fine and so when Jon got home he had to explain that he was only supposed to do that when we were camping. It was pretty funny. I was just happy that he didn't go in his underwear;)

Leah has been talking a lot more lately. My favorite words that she says are: baby, meow, Daniel and tomato. Although when she says tomato it really sounds nothing like the real word. She parrots many words that we say. I have to pay close attention now that she is actually saying words so that I don't miss what she is saying and make her frustrated. She is also walking, running, climbing and just lately started spinning in circles. Daniel likes to play "ring around the rosy" with her but she prefers to do it herself. It makes me a bit nervous because of the rock fire place in the living room and that of course is her favorite place to spin. She also really loves books. She will even sit and read them herself sometimes usually using one word like ball or meow through the whole book. These kids are so cute and growing so fast. I really need to blog more about them and document their cuteness.

Womens Conference

2009-10-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Mom Got tickets to go the the Women's General conference. We had me, Mom, Michelle, Grandma, and my brother James' girlfriend Macie. It was really fun and a nice break from the world. We did get separated and thought we had lost Grandma but she had saved us some seats and was trying to be as tall as she could be so we could find her in the many many women that were there. We did find her and we had second row balcony seats. It was wonderful. Sadly we didn't all get in the pictures though.

More cute pictures

2009-10-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

Cute kids Picking Crabapples

2009-10-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

Canning/ Bottling season

2009-10-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

It started when Grandma picked her Green Gage plums...She brought us a six gallon bucket full. Me, Daniel and Mom Started making Jam. Daniel loved turning the handle on the grinder to grind up the plumbs. I was very impressed with his stamina and patience. Sadly I didn't take pictures of us actually bottling anything but I did take some pictures of the kids picking crab apples. In the end we did several batches of plum jam and crabapple Jelly. They both turned out very well and it was fun to do. I think it would have been miserable to do it by myself but it was fun doing it with Mom. We planned to do applesauce as well but that got pushed back and then we had Jakes wedding. The apples may still be good, but probably won't get done :( we are too busy now. Daniel and Leah loved picking fruit. Leah is a huge apple fan. She has enough teeth now that she can eat the whole thing and she does. Daniel doesn't like apples so much but he was more than happy to pick them for Leah.

Playing in the lake

2009-07-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

She pretty much clung to me like this most of the time when she wasn't in the floaty. Michelle had the good idea of taking everything off in the water to get all of the sand off. It worked well but she thought it was very scary.

I absolutely loved playing in Bear Lake. It is so beautiful and not terribly cold. The kids had a blast to. When we took Leah out she was pretty freaked out at first. I put her in the floaty thing and she cried so I took her out. Then she cried louder and leaned back towards the floaty so I put her back in and she was happier. She really didn't like the waves though so I had to try to keep them from splashing her. Daniel loved playing mostly in the shallow warm pools and digging in the sand. The second day we actually remembered to bring his life jacket but he still wouldn't let go. He is really good at clinging on tight. In the picture with Jon holding him the only reason why he was smiling was because we told him he needed to be brave for Leah so she wouldn't be scared. If we lived closer I would go there all of the time. It really was fun and good for the kids to have some water experience. We also enjoyed having relatives and friends there to play with.

2009-07-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

The kids having fun waiting for the cave tour

Brenda Playing ball and Grandma with the baby

Leah walking behind her push toy.(this wasn't at family camp but was the day after Leah's birthday)

Bear Lake, Jensen Family Camp

2009-07-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Cake and more cake

2009-07-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Leah and her cake. She was very tired at this point so she is taking things pretty slowly. I think if I had given her the cake for breakfast the scene would be much different. I love the expressions on her face though. (sorry about all the the extra chatter in the background) Video's really take a long time to download. It is really cute though. Must be worth it.

2009-07-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

After I took away the licorace and she really dug in.

Happy Birthday Leah and Eden!!

2009-07-27T10:17:00.001-07:00

We had a birthday party for the girls on the 4th of July. Eden was born on the 5th and Leah was born on the 6th. Michelle had a great Idea to do Lady bug cakes We made two small ones for the girls, and a big one for everyone else. It was really fun. They were both very tired by the time we got around to having the cake because we did it after dinner. Eden went strait for the eyes and Leah for the legs. Leah was pretty content with the legs so I had to take all of the legs away to get her to pay any attention to the cake. She had fun digging in after that. She kept rubbing her hands together and looking at them. I'm sure they felt strange having all of that frosting on them.

Cascade springs

2009-06-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

We went up to Cascade springs with my parents and My Sister's family and in laws. It was a really nice day and i enjoyed being out in nature. It was funny to watch Daniel. He really wanted to just run the whole trail and he dragged My sweet Mom behind him. She was holding his hand trying not let him get away by himself. The rest of us kept stopping or walking slow to look at fish and things but Daniel didn't really want to stop. I remember going on hikes with my family when we were young and running down the trail. I didn't care too much about stopping to look at the view. I just wanted to race and see who could get to the end the fastest. Funny that Daniel is the same way.

I told him to take off his glasses so I could see his eyes.

Leah and I enjoying the walk

Cool burnt tree I had to take a picture of.

Change of Goal

2009-06-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

So I decided to change my Goals a bit and start the Flat Belly Diet with my Mom. I decided that I needed something like their four day jump start to well...get a jump start. It has been a while since I posted. The week before last I pretty much took about four days off and ate whatever I wanted. I did work out though.
I started the Flat Belly Four day jump start last Tuesday have been doing pretty well since then. I think it helps me to have a set plan of what I am going to eat and when. And I like that I can still eat things like Chocolate and nuts on this diet. It seems to be working for me so far. I've lost five lbs since Tues. can't complain about that(most of it was probably water weight but I'm hoping to keep that off too.) I have pretty much been exercising every day and I am getting to enjoy it. I do a mixture of strength training, Jump rope, pilates, and walking. I like to change it up to keep things interesting and to keep my body from getting used to any one work out. I hope that every one else is doing well with their goals. Let me know. I would love to hear how you are doing or if you are re starting like I did.

five day update

2009-06-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

So here is an update on my diet exercise week. I did pretty well on Monday Tuesday and wed. Thursday I ate a couple of Annies ginger thins because Mom bought them and they are my favorite. I also had a piece of Lemon cake at a friends B-day party and Didn't exercise (Unless you count Mopping the basement floor. It did probably take an hour.)

Friday I did nothing but read a novel and the bare minimum of work(ie feeding kids and changing diapers...) Not my best day. It was a good book though. The Hourglass door. I did not exercise and I had dutch oven chocolate cake after dinner. My eating was ok for the rest of the day though.

I probably should have checked my blog before today. If I would have known that people were actually interested in doing goals with me, I probably would have done a little better.

I've been thinking about creating a separate blog for every one who wants to do this or maybe using sparkpeople.com Then it might seem more official or something. What do you guys think. Thanks for being interested and good luck with your goals!!

Health and Fitness Goals

2009-06-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

So I am trying to commit to being Healthy. I am having a really hard time doing it. I pretty much like to eat junk food whenever I am bored, frustrated, tired etc. So I decided that maybe if I posted about it and made a bit bigger of a commitment where people could see weather or not I am sticking to it. That it would be helpful too me. I want to loose about 15 to 20 lbs but I'm not really too concerned with what the scale says. I am more concerned with how my pants fit, how flexible and strong I am, and not looking completely gross in my swim suit(or actually being brave enough to wear one in public:) So here are my goals.

1. Eat 4 to 5 small 350 to 400 cal meals a day with A veggie and lean protien
2. Do some form of exercise six days a week for 30 min
3. No White flower, refined sugar

Three rules. Now that shouldn't be to hard right:) So I am going to try to give a brief update once a week about how things went. I will also try to have more interesting posts with it so you all don't get bored. I would love support so if any one wants to have some kind of a contest where we see how long we can stick too our goals(whatever they may be)That would probably help me to have a better attitude about the hole thing and it would be fun to see how you guys progress in your goals as well. Let me know if your interested:)

Mothers Day Weekend and getting caught up.

2009-05-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Considering that my little family all have a pretty bad cold and couldn't go to church. Mothers Day turned out very well. Jon and Daniel went shopping on Saturday. Jon let Daniel pick a present for me and he picked a box of Thomas the Train board books. Jon had Leah give me a 12 lb. medicine ball to work out with and Jon gave me the newest Fablehaven book. Jon tried to help Daniel pick something that I would like a little better but he was determined that what I wanted were the Train books. Jon made strawberry Crepes for breakfast and Kung Pao Chicken for dinner on Sunday. It was really great. He made food for the whole family. Every body enjoyed it. Jake and Ashley came up and taught our primary class so I didn't have to find a sub. And they just got engaged so we had a fun time talking about wedding plans. James and Macie came up too and we got to talk to my brother Jordan in New Zealand. Then Grandma and Grandpa Jensen and Brenda and her kids came over and we played the new game that James gave Mom for Mothers Day. It was probably the best Mothers Day I have had. Jon also took care of the needs of both of my kids which was really a feat because he was cooking all day to. I am so happy to be married to such a thoughtful wonderful man. It really was a nice day.

My favorite.

These are my Mothers Day pictures of My awesome husband and two beautiful kids.(notice the clean kitchen in the back ground. Yeah he cleaned up too)

This is my favorite picture of Leah Lounging on the tire swing and Jon's brother Justin's house

Eden and Leah Being cute on the green grass.

Eden and Leah Learning to fish

Making the rockets

Shooting the Rockets
Jon's went the farthest. He had to jump two fences to find it stuck two inches into the ground(glad it didn't hit anything)

Just Cute. Daniel was making faces and wanted me to take pictures of them. This one is my favorite.

I was trying to take a picture of me and the kids. This one turned out pretty cute.

Oops. I forgot...

2009-04-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that Leah now has three teeth! She got the two bottom ones last week and one top broke through yesterday! She is feeling much better now. She was quite miserable for a few days, hopefully the rest of them won't be so bad. She also started taking about three crawling steps at a time today. I can't believe how fast she is figuring things out. It is so fun to watch her try so hard and finally reach each little mile stone! How amazing! She also says Mom and Da Da. The funny part is that she usually Says Mom when she is really mad and babbles Da Da Dad when she is rolling around and happy. Hmmm. Daniel is such sweet brother(most of the time) He even shares his cars with Leah. He usually lets her play with Mater when she is sad or needs a toy.

Oh what a beutiful Baby!

2009-04-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Leah loves spaghetti. It was really fun giving it too her for the first time. Leah really loves to eat. When I put the spaghetti on her tray though she started to reach for it and then pulled her hand back as if she wasn't so sure about how to go about picking up such strange looking food. She feigned grabbing a handful a few times until I fed her a little on a fork and she decided that it was worth the risk. After the first few handfuls there was no more hesitation. Leah loves spaghetti.

Here are a bunch of pictures from a Leah photo shoot that I did back in February. They turned out pretty good.

Giggles

2009-03-30T13:55:00.001-07:00

So today I left Leah and Daniel playing in the living room while I was making something in the kitchen. I could hear Daniel playing and both of them laughing. I thought he was just being funny. Leah was laughing really hard. I walked in to see what he was doing that was so funny and I found out that Daniel was spitting in her face! She thought it was hilarious (unfortunately for Daniel this wasn't his first spitting indoors offense so he had to be in time out)Even though Leah thought it was so fun it is not really something that I want to encourage. I should have taken a picture before I wiped the spit off her face but didn't so I guess you will just have to take my word for it. :)

Play time !

2009-03-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Michelle came over on her Birthday the 14th and the kids really had fun. We always love to have the Pixton's over to play!

William and Daniel had lots of fun outside pushing each other around on the tractor that Aunt Jan donated..Thanks Jan. They were filling the shovel with snow and then pushing it across the yard to dump it.
Dad was trying to get a picture with all of the grand kids but William didn't want to participate and the only way I got Daniel over there was by telling him he should go tickle grandpa's ears. So the pictures are pretty silly.

Leah and Eden enjoyed steeling each others toys.

And Michelle and I were trying to make head bands and hair clips. I tried this one on Eden while she was eating. What a cutie!

Shovelling exercise

2009-03-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Jon decided that since we don't have Gym passes right now that he would do some work in the yard for exercise. The first task was to shovel the snow that has slid off of the back of my parents roof, out into the yard so it can melt.

Daniel decided that he wanted to help so Jon dug him a cave with a few tunnels in it

Who says you can't build a snow man in the spring?

2009-03-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Jon decided that he should shovel the piles of snow onto the lawn to melt...Then he decided that he and Daniel should build a snow man. It was a really nice day so Leah and I helped too.

Daniel's Haircut

2009-02-24T10:07:00.001-08:00

Jon was able to convince Daniel to let him cut his hair. Jon has never done this before so it was quite an experience but I think he did a pretty good job. Daniel even let him use the clippers.

In the past Daniel has been terrified by haircuts. He would cry and shake. He got especially worried when his hair fell on him and he could see it. For some reason it really disturbed him to see his hair falling off his head. This experience was quite a bit better.

He looks like a completely different kid, and his head looks much smaller now. Here are some before pictures.

During the haircut (obviously)

These are the after pictures and Daniel in a box.

Happily engaged

2009-02-23T08:08:00.000-08:00

So My sister in law Shari posted a bunch of engagement pictures that she took. And I remembered that she took some of mine and decided it would be fun to dig them up and post them. I only have two at my house I think I will have to go to Heber to find the rest of them. I think it is funny how different we look now. I love that we took them at the Highland house though. So I have better memories. The yard was so beautiful thanks to Howard(my father in law).

Progress!

2009-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here's another picture of Daniel and one of his towers.

Hooray! I know you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for a potty training update so here it is! The wait is over. Daniel has decided to be interested in potty training today. He is doing great he has only had one accident today and he even went #2 once! Woo hoo! I know this seems a bit silly to some of you that I am so excited but If you've ever tried to potty train a child I am sure you understand. This is probably a bit premature since tomorrow or this afternoon after his nap he may just decide that it is not worth the effort...but for now I am happy and optimistic. We are using a lot of incentives. If he pee's in the toilet he gets to put a sticker on his chart. If he poops he gets a toy car(at least the next three times)and if he keeps his diaper clean for a few hours two or three(We tell him how long that is by the events in his day like nap time and lunchtime and things like that) he gets to have five chewy sweet tart candies(at least for now we may have to find something a bit more healthy in the future) We don't have any candy or treats in our house usually so he is pretty excited about the candy. So now you can all relax a little I will try not to make you wait so long for the next update. I know how exciting this is for everyone(hehe)

Here is a funny picture of Daniel and Leah Daniel really wanted to hold Leah but she was a little too squirmy for him this time. Ha Ha. I love this Picture!

Daniel: wild hair and funny faces

2009-02-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

So the other morning Daniel wanted me to take pictures of his funny faces. I realized that I have been slacking on my job of teaching him how to make funny faces. He kept saying take a picture of me doing this mom. It was pretty funny and is pretty funny how similar they all are to each other. I guess I better have him start practicing in the mirror.

Potty Training

2009-02-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

So.. Sorry every one. This is my life so you get to read about potty training Woo hoo! I am trying to some what gently potty train Daniel. I tried to introduce it at 18 months and he was terrified of the toilet so I have been pretty casual about it so far, mostly just suggesting that he try because if I push too hard then I get a big crying fit. I really have no idea what I'm doing but he seems to understand most of it now and is somewhat receptive. He is quite independent though and I have to be careful how I go about it so he doesn't just decide that he absolutely doesn't want to have anything to do with the toilet. We have had mild success with number one but absolutely no success with # 2. He much prefers hiding in my closet and doing his business in his diaper or pull up. So I decided to try a bribe. Yesterday I made a chart and he gets to pick a sticker to put on it ever time he pee's. That has worked pretty well...so far. Today we went to Wal-Mart and bought some "Car's" cars. I put them on one of the ceiling shelves in his room where he can see them, and told him that he can have one when he goes poo in the toilet instead of his pants. I guess tomorrow we will see how it goes... those cars could stay there for a long long time... but I hope not. If you have any miracle advice I am all ears!

Building blocks

2009-01-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

Daniel loves to build. It doesn't matter if it is with blocks, toys, blankets, couch pillows. He just loves to stack things. I took these pictures of his Block towers. For his second birthday Jon made him these blocks. He is really creative and I promise we didn't do any of the building.

This is one of my favorites. It is so big and elaborate. I snuck in to see if he was asleep and I found this amaizing tower he had built before finally dozing off. I swear he's going to be an architect.

This one looks very different from the two angles. They are actually the same tower though.

He even built this tiny tower right before falling asleep under his bed.

This is his newest one. It even has two separate rooms.

2009-01-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute picture that I took of Leah and Grandpa Jensen. I told her to say cheese and this is what she did! It was so cute.

2009-01-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

Daniel and William refusing to smile

Here is a cute picture of Michelle's baby Eden

Unfortunately the grandmas got their heads cut off but this was a cute picture any ways.

I couldn't resist taking this picture she was just being so cute while I got her bath ready.

I was trying to get a cute picture of the kids by the Christmas tree but Leah kept squirming and Daniel's back was getting poked by the TV. So this is the best one I got.

Sleeping Habbits

2008-12-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

Some times when I check on Daniel during his nap or before we go to bed I find him in some funny places. See if you can find Daniel in this picture. He put his bed like that himself.

This is when I found him in his closet. The closet door was only open a few inches. When I first went into his room I was a little worried because I couldn't find him. His pants are wet because he took the lid off of his sippy cup and spilled it all over himself.

He was asleep when I found him but he woke up after I took the first few pictures. He was really cute when he woke up.

Christmas Lights

2008-12-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

Last night we were driving and we pointed out some Christmas lights to Daniel. First he said, "what are those?" I said those are Christmas lights. He said "It's a Christmas light Jungle" We thought that was really funny. The house we drove by did kind of look like a Christmas light Jungle.

Ginger bread people

2008-12-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

I tried to get a good picture of Daniel with the tree but he kept running away so this is the best one.
We made some ginger bread people for our tree. Daniel loved eating the Ginger bread. He was worried I was going to put them all on the tree. I think they are really cute.

Too big to run fast

2008-12-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

It really is funny the things that Daniel comes up with. I went to My parents house on Thursday to try to get some projects done with some company. We ate Dinner with my family and Mom made us some soup that had alphabet pasta, lentils, carrots, turkey, etc. Daniel was eating the turkey and pasta but he was reluctant to try the lentils. So I decided to try some bribery...I told him that they would help him to be stronger and run faster. He thought about it for a minute and then said he didn't want to eat them. So my mom trying to be helpful asked if she could eat them. He said "sure". Then mom said that she wanted to eat them so she could run fast. Daniel looked at her and said "You're to big to run fast." We all thought it was hilarious. Daniel though was completely serious.

Putting up the tree

2008-12-03T15:43:00.001-08:00

We put up the tree Sunday night and decided that the stocking were great hats.

Jesus has a car seat

2008-12-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

So we put up our Christmas decorations and Daniel likes to play with the nativity that I have set out. Yesterday he picked up one of the wise men and said "Is this Jesus?" I told him who it was and then of course told him who the rest of them were. Today he picked up the baby Jesus and said "This is baby Jesus. He's in his car seat huh?" Then I had to explain what a manger is. It is funny the things that you don't think about your kids not knowing. It is fun to be able to teach him about Jesus and Christmas. He is so smart I thought it was great how he saw the manger and used his base of knowledge to decide what was going on.

She did it!

2008-12-02T18:33:00.001-08:00

Leah rolled over for the first time today. I thought that she would do it front to back first but she did it back to front.

Daniel and the Cocoa powder...

2008-12-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well this is proof that I sleep to much. Daniel did this one morning when instead of waking up early I turned on the cartoons and went back to bed. Jon had gone to work early and made himself a protein shake with some cocoa powder which got left on the counter. Daniel came into my room and said. "I'm messy mom" I took one look at him said "you sure are!" and ran to see the damage... this is what I found..(except I moved the new brick of cheese that he had taken out of the container it was in and dusted in cocoa powder, then left on the floor on the lid of said container.

He must have been eating the cocoa powder because it was all over his face and mouth. I think he must have liked it to, because there was a large spot in front of the tv. where it looked like he had sat down to snack and he didn't tell me that it was yucky.

The Zoo

2008-12-02T12:51:00.001-08:00

We went to the zoo for my birthday in August. It was pretty fun. The weather wasn't too hot or anything and most of the animals were out and about. Daniel really liked watching the monkeys, elephants, and tigers. Unfortunately we don't have very many pictures because we had a the tiny memory card that my new camera came with.

Blogging trouble

2008-12-02T12:49:00.001-08:00

So I have been having a bit of a hard time figuring out this blog thing. I ended up just deleting my first attempt because it had a problem that I couldn't fix. Hopefully I have better luck with this one. I am going to try to re-post the pictures and text that I had on the old one and see how that works then I will try and add some new stuff. Wish me luck!