Stew is two!

It's great to be two and we celebrated in style with all of Stewart's 'favorite things:' a train park, slides, swings, new sand toys, bubbles and many of his favorite friends. It worked out that his birthday landed on an early release day for Casper, so we were able to leave at noon and arrive in time for lunch of grilled hotdogs, chips, Stewart soda, fruit and gogurts. The Sesame Street cupcakes were a hit, as were the fun gifts of a giant Elmo, an Elmo magnadoodle, a new dumptruck for the sandbox, a mini Thomas the Train, cars and a Little People Noah's ark. Of course, Casper and Whitney could hardly wait to break open all the new toys. The weather was perfect and the kids still didn't want to leave 3 hours later! The best present was that Grandma and Grandpa C came for the party on an airplane and stayed all weekend! We love Stewart and are so glad he's part of our family!

Good Carma

My kids enjoyed having two moms for a brief weekend at the end of February when Carma Carrick came to visit. Stewart, Casper and Whitney also liked having a cute doll of a baby 'sister' to play with. Comparing Chloe to Stewart really emphasized how big he is and that he'll be two in just a few short weeks. While Carma was here, she helped me decide on colors and actually paint Whitney's room that so sadly has looked like a boy's room for two years. It was a little stressful trying to paint with 4 little kids around, but we got it done in about five hours!! It looks really fun and Whitney and Stewart both love dancing around in the room. We haven't even put up the blinds, yet because the sun makes the whole room look like a beautiful sunset. I'll post more pictures once I have the wall stickers of flowers put up. On Saturday night Carma and I had our own night out at the Melting Pot for gourmet fondue and we literally ate for two hours, testing all the yummy meats, veggies, cheese sauce and chocolate. It was a late birthday treat for both of us full of fun conversation! We love you Carma and are so glad you came! We can't wait to see you at the beach in July!

8 years and counting!

I haven't been able to find our CD of pictures from our wedding, so that tells me we've been married long enough to move 3 times and have at least that many children...yep, we're celebrating 8 years of marriage! We realized, too, that we forgot to get a babysitter again, so we'll be staying in to have dinner with the kids. Our anniversary kind of gets forgotten after the busy holidays. I remember, though, how lucky I am to have a husband that loves and cares about me and would do just about anything to make me happy. I'm glad that I chose someone that will help get the kids out the door to school in the morning and dinner on the table after a tiring weekend so I can take a nap. He sings the kids to sleep at night. He loves to play legos and Star Wars with Casper. He helps Whitney find a burp cloth for her babies and gives 'horse rides' to all 3 kids at once. I'm glad that he'll brave taking us all canoeing and camping and on long road trips and will wait in the car while I 'just run in to the store.' Matt's a gem and I'm lucky he's my husband. Thanks for 8 awesome years and I hope that the next 8 are even better!

Santa made a mistake!

To my surprise this year, Santa brought me a dollhouse! It was the one I've always wanted, but Whitney was sure it was for her! :) Needless to say, we've ALL had fun playing with the fun detailed furniture and twin babies with a mom and dad. When my brother's 5 year old son, Jackson, came over to play with Casper's Star Wars Legos, Casper was more excited about having Jackson see the Dad unload the groceries from the minivan than he was about having a war. My brother was NOT pleased. I was, though. Imagine how much Casper's wife will thank me...

From Collages

We had a great Christmas in Utah, though in the future, we'll probably have to wait until the day after Christmas to leave. Santa's sleigh was almost too full to be a surprise. We did really enjoy seeing so many of our family and even got a visit in to the Andersons and the Carricks.

Matt and I took the kids sledding and skiing during out trip and I was really surprised at how well the kids did. The highlight of the final day of skiing, though, was the snowmobile ride the kids got when they got too tired to finish the last run of the day. I think we were the last ones on the hill. Thanks to the courtesy driver at Alta!

I even forgot my password

It's been so long since I last made an entry, that I couldn't remember my password and didn't know that gmail had changed to Google. Not good. Maybe that's a little bit how it will be to enter the Celestial Kingdom? :) Thanks Shar, for encouraging me to get back to it.


I've missed writing and documenting all that we have to be thankful for and the little happenings in our lives. The best news is that Matt recently switched jobs at Honeywell and will now be flying as a test pilot which has more regular hours, e.g., daytime and no weekends. Aside from the occasional trip for Corporate and training stints, he will be home in the evenings. The kids and I are very grateful in this struggling economy to have found a job that fits our family better.


It's been a little hard to get into the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas with the abnormally warm weather of 80-90 degrees. Did you know that it gets hot enough to pop corn right on its stalks? We learned that at Casper's farm fieldtrip. It does allow us great park days, though, which we've been taking time to do on a daily basis. Casper loves being able to go to recess 3 times a day now and he's picked up some very good boy social skills playing tag football and a couple of friends as well. I cry because I'm so relieved and grateful! We feel also lucky to have moved to the only school district that provides a registered nurse in each school, so he is able to get his medicine and blood sugar checks at the office and head back to class.


Stewart has blossomed into our toddler that loves everything that starts with a b: babies, balls, boots, bikes, brothers, blankies and even the game Hullabaloo, which he loves to play and shout every time he gets on a pad. He was Casper's and Whitney's biggest fan during their teeball season on the same team.


Whitney is a mom at heart, already, knowing how things should be done and when. Two moms in the house is a challenge. She is doing well at her little preschool. They learned about Hansel and Gretel this week and made candy houses.

Life is good and we are grateful for the family and friends we have to share it with. I promise to make more entries! I love hearing what others are thankful for--share some of those things with me on your comments!

'Til we meet again

Matt's father, Richard Alma Jensen, passed away on September 11, 2008. Even Stewart felt the void his leaving made when we went home for the funeral, looking for his Grandpa throughout the house. Matt's brothers and sisters all came together to help their mom plan a beautiful funeral and graveside service that paid tribute to a great man who should have no regrets about the way he lived or the work and service he did while he lived. He celebrated his 80th birthday on February 22, 2008 and his 50th wedding anniversary on August 25th, 2008. What a legacy as his wife, all 8 kids, their spouses and 26 grandchildren sang his favorite family home evening hymn, "Love at Home." I always felt loved by him in his home and mine and am grateful that I knew him, loved him and am married to one of his sons. Because of Dick and Joann, Matt is a kind father, hard worker and has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will miss you, Dad!

We'll never forget

Today Casper asked me why everyone was celebrating the flag at school today. For a second, I couldn't think of why and looked at the calendar to see if it was a holiday I'd forgotten. Even though I forgot the day today, I hope I never forget the way I felt that day. Matt and I had just been married that January and he was deployed at the end of August to Saudi Arabia. It was a difficult separation for me, so I was in Salt Lake City visiting family and working on a project for a professor that had overseen my thesis at the University of Utah. I was sitting in the car, waiting for my mom to take me up to the U. and listening to the radio. I heard the announcer break in and say that a second plane had crashed into the twin towers in New York City. I first thought it was an advertisement. Then I ran into the house to tell my mom and turn on the TV. I watched in disbelief and cried. I went up to the University but didn't do any work, just watched TV with all of the students and teachers in the cafeteria. Matt didn't call from Saudi Arabia very often due to the difference in time and his schedule, but he made sure to call me and his parents as soon as he could to let us know the base there was safe but in total lockdown. For the rest of his time there, 3 months, he carried a gas mask wherever he went and never left the base. A year later, Matt and I were able to visit Ground '0' on the 4th of July. We talked about several men he had known in his career that died that day in the airplanes. I cried then and felt so angry that anyone could hate a nation or people enough to destroy so much, especially so many lives. I'm grateful to live in a nation where terror is not usually the norm, that I can be angry about it when it does happen and that so many good people have come together to heal and help each other. As I told Casper about that day, he got tears in his eyes and asked if he could say a prayer for all of those people that died that day. It's important that we never forget!