Wow, it's quiet around here!

So Lynsey and Lexie flew back to Texas on Tuesday. It was so fun to have them here. Lyns is such a good little mommy and Lexie is truly precious. LOVE her thighs!!!! (A question I would like answered however; at what age is it no longer "cute" to have thunder thighs?) It was nice to have my oldest here and to enjoy her. We went shopping on Saturday, that was fun, she made me buy a new camera, it was really all her fault....really....seriously!
As a parent one of the coolest things that I've seen is when your kids enjoy each other's company. They talk and laugh and get out of control when they start talking about some of the stunts they pulled.....amnesty and the statute of limitations....it's a beautiful thing. It was fun to see Uncle Matt, Uncle Nate and Uncle Cameron play with Lexie, of course none of us could get enough of her. Now they are gone, things are quiet and I'm wandering around the house. Candi got to fly back with Lyns to stay for a week. When she gets back she'll only have 2 more weeks of summer then school starts and she'll be a senior........I need prozac!
It was wonderful having everyone here! We should do that again.....SOON!
We stopped in Riverside and saw Grandma and Grandpa Jensen

We decided to get some pictures with the four "girls", then on to Pocatello to see Grandma Egan.

On Monday Tara and I and Lyns went shopping at Tia Pan Trading....wow, what a place. Then I came home without incident....well except with a car alarm issue at 0700 in the morning that awakened the state of Utah (ask Matt about that one). These last few days have been just a quiet house with just Cameron aka Mouse Potato and me. Nate and Sara and Krew have done an OK job of babysitting us though.
I love you all my family!!!! You are all the best!

Today I'm missing my best friend. I'll be glad when he is home. The planets don't align when he's gone and I don't have a smile on my face. Hurry home! I love you! We spoke briefly on the phone tonight and tried not to talk about how many more trips he'll have to take in the upcoming weeks. If we don't talk about it maybe it won't happen... and then again "denial" is not a river in Egypt.

Foil Dinners, Fireworks and a New Camera

Krew isn't feeling well today. He went to the doc yesterday and was put on antibiotics, but today he's still feeling punky. Get better Krewser!At 8:00 at night Nate and Lynsey decided they wanted to have foil dinners, so off to the store to buy carrots, charcoal, hamburger and red potatoes. Nate with charcoal and lighter fluid...not a great combo.
Sara and Krew monitor Nate's pyro activities.

Lynsey inhales a little of the charcoal encrusted dinner. It's OK tasting with enough catsup.
Sara wanted something different than hamburger in her foil dinner. I watched her make it and I thought she put potatoes and carrots, a few onions and I was sure she put chicken in it....but I must have been mistaken, because this looks like "seefood"!
We were anxious to get the foil dinners done because we wanted to be able to go to our secret spot to watch the fireworks display. It was the first night of the International Folk Dance Festival and at the end of the opening ceremonies they always have fireworks. Last year we accidentally discovered where they light them from. We were able to sit in Lynsey's Jeep with the top off and had the fireworks directly over us. It was so fun, so this year we were ready to get our spot again. We loaded the pickup with pillows, foam mattresses and blankets. We went to park in our spot again and this time the Moss family joined us. We told them where the secret spot was and they decided they would go as well. Unfortunately a campus police officer came and told us that we couldn't park where we were, so we moved the cars across the street into a small parking lot. It was perfect. We had fireworks directly overhead! It was AWESOME! This was a great way to use my new camera! If you want to see it you can click here:
http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/ProductDetail.page?pid=25420
But I didn't pay that much for it!!!!!
It's the end of a fun day and we'll probably all be very tired in church. It's been great to have Lynsey and Lexi here! Thanks Nick for sharing them with us. We "heart" you!

Another day gone....

The end of another day.....another day closer to the time when Howie comes home. I don't like when he is gone. I know he's not getting enough sleep, he's eating crappy food and he's working too many long hours. It was a long day in the ER today, I didn't sleep well last night due to the fact that I woke up with a horrible sore throat. How can you get a cold and sore throat in the summertime? Oh, ya, working in the ER. After my long day the flowers in my front yard made me smile.
Then I got to see Krewzer rodding around in his hot little red car. Be afraid...be very afraid. This kid is gonna steal your heart...all he needs is a pair of shades. Cool dude!
Oh, no, a car accident on highway Harvard! The driver walks away. Thank goodness, he didn't have to come to the ER! He might have had the cranky nurse.
So, I was noticing today that my neighbors all have nice, orderly garbage. Neat garbage. Organized garbage. This is my neighbor on the right.
Here is another prime example of the neighborhood garbage. Neat. Organzied. Tidy. This is across the street from my house. I bet my neighbors are wondering "what in the world is that crazy woman across the street doing?" "Is she takin' picutures of our garbage?"

Then here's my garbage........................is isn't neat, organized or tidy. It's not clean. Its cup runneth over! For me the ability to "stack" garbage is sort of an art form for me. A creative outlet, if you will. I pride myself on this incredible talent. If you take a cardboard box torn apart and tuck it in front of the "tower" you can even build it higher. Pretty amazing isn't it? And I think that another bag can be added to top it off. Awesome isn't it?
This is the result of a week of 15 people in the house, 3 of those 15 people being diaper-donning darlings. This is the result of barbeques, cereals, 15 people and one bathroom (which is a story for another time). Yes, I'm sure that Howie will just cringe when he reads this post, but hey! I'm just keeping it real! One final thought for the day. I will be soooooo glad when the garbage man comes and hauls this off!

I miss you!

Howard has been gone for a few days and has several more before he comes back home. I miss you! I can't even think of a project that I can get into while you are gone.....you can relax....maybe. Ya, he's in Texas. Lynsey comes from Texas to be with the family... uhhmmm that's a bit odd isn't it? Anyway, back to the subject of cute....Howie....looks good here.


There are many faces to Howie, there is his Sunday-go-to-meetin' face. He cleans up right nice doesn't he???? Looks good here too don't he?


In fact, he looks pretty nice in a white shirt and tie! Dad and Cam have a moment together..with their shades. Lookin' good boys!

Uhm, not so sure about this one.....haven't I seen this on America's Most Wanted?

Well, he may not be America's Most Wanted, but he is my most wanted. HURRY HOME! I love you!

Candice.....reflections of her on her 17th birthday

Wow, she's 17 today! How did I get so old? I've watched in amazement as she's grown and become so talented. Does she know what gifts she possesses? Does she know that she is amazing? Does she know that there is more to each day than surface stuff?

Things about her that I love.....her laugh, her happiness and good attitude. She always asks about my day, I can talk to her as a friend. She's quirky and funny and finds the good in people, she always gives them the benefit of the doubt. Sigh.....I have spent the day feeling very melancholy about her and how fast she has grown.

And then..............I went into her room.

Fact: there are some species that eat their young......I can relate.

In spite of the room.........Happy Birthday Angel Baby!

Crazy Daze!

This last several days has found our house bursting at the seams! Lynsey flew in with Lexi and Matt and Tara and the family came to hang out with her. Matt and Howie spent Friday night and Saturday laying carpet in Nate and Sara's new house. Sara's dad, Tim came and worked on installing the cabinets. Sounds like it was a real guy party. They got home at 0330 and then turned around and hit it again all day Saturday. While they were working hard we got to watch the kids play in the backyard, pick strawberries and generally have a good time. It's so fun to see them play together, they have such fun personalities.

Of course, with all the family here it presents a few challenges...such as a dozen people using one bathroom....only one bathroom is a story for another time. The funnest thing for me to see was Lynsey, Tara and Candice getting their makeup on in front of the mirror in my room. Our closet doors are sliding full size mirrors and I walked into my room Sunday morning before church and they were sitting on the floor in front of it getting themselves all prettied up. I wish I had my camera for that one cause it was cute.

Sunday afternoon we had a big dinner and my parents came up. We had a combined birthday celebration for my mom and for Candice. Mom's b-day was on the 18th and Candi's will be the 22nd. We didn't figure a cake could handle mom's 73 candles....sorry mom if you were still telling people you were 29 I didn't mean to blow it for you.....and Candi's 17 candles so Lynsey in her quirky wisdom got three number candles a 1 a 7 and a 3. Put together it was 173.....17 for Candi and 73 for mom. I thought it was pretty clever.

Sunday held some changes for me. Last Tuesday Howie told me he needed to talk to me and could I come into his "office". He told me that they were going to release me from nursery. I started crying. I wasn't prepared to feel that way about those little kids. It has been a challenging calling for me, but I've really had a lot of fun and gotten so attached to those little ones. It's not every calling that you can crawl around on the floor for two hours and get to have treats too. I have had a pretty melancholy week. He did extend a calling to me to be the Enrichment Counselor in the Relief Society...I'm very unsure about that. It was different sitting in Relief Society....very quiet....

One of the cool things that happened because of this calling was having my husband, dad and three sons set me apart in this new calling. Wow, I was a proud mom. I'm sure I'll come to love this calling but I'm not sure anything will be as tender to me as being in the nursery. I think that if the Savior were to visit our ward, he wouldn't want to be anywhere else but in the nursery.

Grandpa was getting a kick out of Krew aka HAM! He is always ready for a cheese for the camera! We do need to get a picture of him with his cowboy hat on!

Then we have "Princess Crabby Pants"

Auntie Lynsey did a little hair magic! You have got to love that sweet little sincere smile and you'd think she was an angel all the time... I'm here to dispell that myth. She's a terrible force to behold when she's getting her brothers in line. She is the one in charge!

Green Things Growing!

After the long winter.....

It is such a beautiful thing to see growing things after the winter we had this year. The snow went on and on and on.......I'll post pictures of that later. But I just wanted to show the garden and flowers today. We've had strawberries, but are anxiously awaiting the tomatoes and cucumbers.. I'm ready for a really good BLT!