Happy Birthday Chris!

Christopher turns 23 today! How exciting. Jeff's in New Orleans celebrating for you and going to the Sugar Bowl!

Christmas 2008 officially comes to a close

Well the house is quiet again. It was fun to hear the pitter patter of little feat through the house. Actually, at this age, it was more like a swoosh. The noise of bass from the Nintendo Wii has been silenced. Yes, we're already missing the Jensens and having all the kids together. I'm posting a few pictures to enjoy. Hannah lost her two front teeth while visiting - they came out all by themselves! She was just Days past the song of "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" Little Zeke is just as cute as a snuggle and Judah amazes us constantly with how much he's growing and growing up!

Merry Christmas

We just want to wish all of our friends and family a Very Merry Christmas! We are so thankful for each of you and the privilege we feel to be a part of your lives.
With Love,
Rick and Betty

Life is Precious

I'm awakened early this morning to remind me of how precious life is. In the last week, Jason and Hannah were in an accident hitting black ice on a bridge and slamming the truck from side to side, then yesterday, Nick was driving his company van down the canyon with wind gusts up to 120 mph. Even at 15 mph, he came around an s turn and snow had drifted onto the road, spinning his van and then tumbling down the embankment into the river below. He is lucky to be alive. The good news is that God still wants him here on earth. The Sheriff came to the hospital and said if he didn't have his seat belt on, he surely would have been ejected and not with us to tell the story. Life is precious and we only get so many days here on earth, so my life lesson is to make them count and make sure those you love know it!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and blessings over you! We miss you.

Bears

This is one of my favorites from National Geographics best pictures.

Congratulations!!!!!!

After 4 years of schooling, sacrafice and hard work, both Aadam and Andy passed the Mechanic's exam! Great Job guys!

Too Cute

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have never a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving

We just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! We know that we have MUCH to be thankful for - Our family, extended family, friends and so much more. We live in a nation considered rich by many since we can read and have one meal a day. We certainly don't feel rich but are thankful for our education and educators and those that grow the food we eat. Please know that, as you read this blog, we will be saying a prayer of Thanks for You this season.

12 Wins, 0 Losses

Well the University of Utah ended their season on Saturday with a perfect record, 12 Wins! So now they are ranked #6 in the nation and will wait to see which Bowl game they get invited to. The city was buzzin, just like the 80's when the 49ers had such great seasons. It was a fun year. Now Rick can rest his vocal cords and come home without confetti all over his clothes.

Rivalry Week

Well this is the week where all the rival schools play each other. My brother Ray was convinced that he would have gotten better care at Stanford if they didn't know he went to Cal Berkley! It's called the Holy War here in SLC due to University of Utah playing BYU. So the big game is here on Saturday. All the testosterone and estrogen from around the nation spikes over all the college rivalry games. It should be a lot of fun!

Attempted Home Invasion

Last night someone tried to break into Sara and Nick's home while they were home sleeping. The dog (Nilla) went nuts and yet it did not scare this guy away. He attempted to open windows and the front door. He then pounded on the windows and doors and went into a rage. All the while, Sara had 911 on the phone. The intruder finally got tired and went down the street. When the cops arrived, they looked for but couldn't find him - then another call from a neighbor with someone trying to break in. Hopefully they caught him. These are scary times and people will get more desperate as times get tougher.

Notes to self - get a dog - a loud one, ok set the alarm (Rick's done with dogs), get a gun, and buy bullets.

Monday Night Football and Sushi

Tomorrow night we're having friends over and making sushi. Yum. We have Ebi Shrimp, broiled eel, taco (octapus), tomago, kappa maki (cucumber roll) and California rolls (cucumber, crab and avacado).

Body World

Today, we celebrated Taylore's good report card by going to the Body World exhibit. They take human bodies (cadavers) and inject plastic to preserve them for art and teaching. It's a traveling exhibit and very interesting. I got to see what arthritis looks like, tumors, what a stroke looks like after a mild one and after a major one, a heart attack. It was quite interesting. There were babies at each stage of life, the little ones were from the 1920's and couldn't be cured at that time. We got to see organs, muscle and what an obsese person looks like with all the fat attached to the muscle. We saw healthy lungs, and smoker lungs, emphazema. It was amazing. Here's the website for more info http://www.nowutah.com/bodyworlds/

I would highly recommend seeing it if it comes to your location. Very educational.

Happy Anniversary Deb and Joe!

Just 26 Years ago today Deb and Joe were married in Boise. It seems like last year. Boy, time flies. That was the weekend I met Stomie, Rose, Michelle, Jeff, Cathy and her family! That's amazing!

Prom Queen Meets Leaf Man

I didn't get a picture of him grabbing the ankles of teens, but this outfit will give you a good idea of how well he fit in!

Slacker

I have been slacking in keeping up with this blog. My apologies to those who read it regularly, but I bet you have Shannon's Birthday memorized by now :) Speaking of Birthdays, Michelle celebrated her 33rd Birthday this week! We didn't forget you, just slacked on the posting! Little Grace had a birthday too this week. What a little sweetie who is growing up fast. Michele Seale will celebrate her special day on Saturday and Huge kisses to ZEKE who will celebrate his birthday this next week. You are all very special and we love you guys!

We had a fun Halloween and Rick grabed the ankles of teenagers while hiding in the piles of leaves in our front yard. Not sure they'll ever be the same again - the teens and poor Moms and Dad's! But Rick had a blast!

Whether you like football or not the University of Utah is undefeated and has had an incredible season. Here's a picture of the boy's praying before yesterday's game with Texas Christian University. (They are really good too).

Our church family has been pretty exciting too. When we first moved to Utah, there were just a few Christian churches here with a hundred or so people attending. Today, there are probably 25-50 churches and ours alone has grown to over 1,000 people each weekend. Something's going on in this valley and it's very exciting.

Well that's it for now!

Happy Birthday to Shannon

Today Shannon turned 27! It seems like yesterday that she was a little toddler with the telephone to her ear. Boy, time flies! Shannon had a 'girls weekend' in Southern California to celebrate her birthday.

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate a belated Birthday to Sara. She's had a week full of activities and has enjoyed this birthday.

We got to visit with Cathy this week as she was on her way to Boise to be with her daughter who tragically lost her husband.

It's good to be with family. I just wish all the circumstances were good ones.

We had our first snow at our house last night. It should be back up to the 70's by midweek. Off to SFO tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Sara and Shirley

We've spent last week reminising over the wedding since we got the video back of the wedding plus the photographer's pictures. Life is so precious and it's great to soak in the wonderful moments that we get. Little Zeke will have a Birthday next month, but I just couldn't pass up this picture. He just warms my heart!

Fall Colors

I know most of you won't know our friends Don and Lori, but you can still appreciate the fall colors out here. We even got a little snow in the mountains Saturday morning.

Simple Truths

This morning, Rick had a funny look on his face and he said, "your body is changing". Of course, I know what he means, but just to confirm, I ask him, how so? It's at this moment, he catches himself and realizes if he speaks any words, he'll probably be telling a lie. Now he can't answer my question, so he tries to change the subject. If I knew what he meant to begin with, why do I put him in that position? I use to think I did that to teach him to not share every thought that crosses his mind. Instead, I just need to enjoy him as he is, honest in thought and free to speak it. I'll choose that today. So instead of getting my feelings hurt, we both just laughed.

Random Thoughts

I spent last week working in SFO and got some time in to visit with Mom, Shirley, Fran and Chris. Normally when I'm away, Rick shops on the computer, which could be dangerous. This week when I came home, I was pleasantly surprised with the new helmet he found for Ute Bear. The University of Utah football season is in full swing and the snuggle bears are having a blast.
Sara left today for Nashville Tn for their annual conference. Michelle is going through a difficult time as a school counselor, helping the kids travel through the road of grief with the loss of a classmate. I can remember going to my friend's funeral in grade school and it doesn't seem real for a long time. Life is precious and as John Maxwell writes, Every Day Matters. So make today count and make your life count.

Neighbor

We have always been lucky to be blessed with nice neighbors. One of our neighbors has bone cancer. He's had brain cancer and several other kinds and believes that he gets cancer every time he needs to forgive someone. He was deteriorating rapidly, and hospice set up a hospital bed for him in their family room. His skin tone was gray and he wasn't doing well at all. Then he started taking all kinds of minerals and now he's up and around, functioning like a picture of health. He even went out with Rick the other day to visit a friend. I bring this up because I can't believe the transformation in the person I saw two weeks ago vs. last week. I don't know the number of his days, but he looks like a different person. Every day is precious and every day is a gift.

Happy Third Anniversary to Steve and Shannon -tomorrow

INSTALLING A HUSBAND
Dear Tech Support, Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as · Romance 9.5 and · Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as · NBA 5.0, · NFL 3.0<> and · Golf Clubs 4.1.Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.· Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate.

DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind, · Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while · Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html, try to download Tears 6.2, and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If those applications work as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6. 1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0-program. This is an unsupported application and will crash Husband 1.0< /U>.In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck! Tech Support
I thought this was funny, but lucky for you, Husband 1.0 has been upgraded to 3.0! Happy Anniversary!

FISH !

My mother always taught me that you should eat fish in any month ending in R. I love September! Today, I got some Fresh Dungenes Crab, Fresh Shimp and Salmon! At least, that's when it's in season. There's nothing like crab, dipped in butter with fresh sourdough! Of course that will have to wait until Tuesday when I take my annual blood test with the follow up lecture on cholesterol.

Walk/Ride and Misc

This is what you do when each person prefers a different exercise. I like to walk and Rick enjoys his bike. This morning we walked/rode up City Creek Canyon. Fall is coming and the mornings are cooler and we want to get in every chance of getting outside and enjoying the beautiful outdoors before the deep chill sets in. They have signs to beware of bears - but we didn't see any - we didn't bring any either :) On our hike a few weeks ago up Millcreek Canyon, we ran into a moose grazing. I told him we'd stay on our trail if he'd stay on his.

Rick went to the University of Utah football game yesterday. Shirley, I think you spoiled him taking him to Stanford's new stadium. He said he was squished and this place could use some garlic fries! He enjoyed the game anyway.

Poor Fran and Shirley have been battling a skunk. Actually, it was Jazz the dog doing the battling. Nick and Sara have racoons coming through their yard terrorizing the cats in the neighborhood. Nick set a trap and he's caught at least 7 or 8 - I've actually lost count. They know there's another mom and baby out there still. He catches them in a cage, then takes them up Millcreek canyon and lets them go. Those animals are mean!

My friend Michelle is walking 60 miles this weekend in the bay area to raise money to cure Breast Cancer. Go Michelle! You're my hero! It's 20 miles a day for 3 days. Ouch my feet hurt just thinking about that.

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Birthday Dan!

With Anne's and Dan's Birthday this week, I tried Debbie's Berry Cobbler. Oh, that was good. Of course my husband says I didn't use a checkered basket for decoration and my berries weren't as good because they were frozen, but he enjoyed the ice cream. Oh well.... Enjoy your special day Dan and we should be in Vegas celebrating!

Happy Birthday Anne!

If anyone would know the true meaning of a birth day, that would be Anne. After 4 children and a new one on the way, it's the Moms that should be honored on anyone's Birthday! I hope your Birthday was great, and good job Cathy!

Monday is Judah's Birthday

Happy Birthday Judah! We hope your Birthday is so special. I think Dad was taking you out to shoot guns. I wish we were there to sing you Happy Birthday! Enjoy your present from us.

I just love this age where their mouths are mixed with a few baby teeth and big grown up teeth too. It signals the change from little boy to dropping the 'little'. It's a bit sad but exciting with what the next phase brings.

Tomatoes are Ripe!

This is such a fun time of year with all the fresh fruits and veggies ripening. The header is our Snuggle named Burley (he's our little farmer) picking ripe tomatoes. Rick made some awesome salsas today! I spent 4 days this week in Minneapolis. It is pretty flying in with all the lakes. If you love boating, you must check this place out. It even has light rail from the airport directly to The Mall of America for all those back to school shopping needs or a shopaholics dream.

Nick and Sara are starting the process of looking at houses and seeing what they can or can't afford. It's a real eye opener. I'm sure if its meant to be, the right deal will come along. We also expect housing prices to drop further as people realize that summer is nearly over and their house isn't selling this year.

Bob Fixin Sprinklers

Last Wednesday, we took off to St. George to check on the house and lot. They've been getting a lot of rain in southern Utah. Before we left, Rick (with Bob's help) had to fix a sprinkler that was hit by the lawn mower.

He's a food dicing chef!

Rick's been enjoying the food channel so he picked out a food processor for his birthday from Shirley. It's been amazing! If I'd of known that I'd get all these treats, I surely would have gotten him one much sooner. We've had fresh salsa, puree sauces to stuff chicken with, and tonight - Chile Verde with a little kick. Yum! Thanks Shirley!

Happy Birthday Emilee!!!!

Today, Aadam and Michele's daughter, Emilee turns 6! I'm sure there will be quite the party with cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and Great Grandparents in attendance. Have a wonderful Birthday Emilee!

Another picture of a happy bride

10 Years Ago Today

Wow, 10 years have passed since Jason and Michelle said their vows to each other! Happy Anniversary and enjoy your time together in beautiful Lake Tahoe! May your marriage continue to be blessed with joy, happiness, good communication and may you always keep each other in the #2 spot in your lives (after God)!

The Green Appraiser!

Well we were thankful for a job today. Rick decided to ride his bike to do the appraisal and take pictures of the comps in the neighborhood! I believe the roundtrip was around 9 miles. He left early to avoid the 96 degree heat. The customer was thrilled and said we have our First Green Appraiser!

You can't take the Farm out of a Boy!

Rick and I were looking at the tomatoe plants. The tag said they should grow to 36" tall. All I can say is Good Job Dude! We are going to have quite the harvest of fresh, vine ripened tomatoes thanks to him!

Happy Anniversary

I can hardly believe it's been one month since Nick and Sara's wedding. We had a great evening with Nick's parents and Nick and Sara. Much more relaxed!

Oh, and did I mention... Cake!

Camping

I don't think we've been camping in at least 10 years, but we decided to go on the annual church campout just 40 minutes south of here. It was really hot and we were sweaty and sticky and we couldn't sleep but we still had a good time. My name was drawn to judge the Dutch Oven cooking contest. Wow, I would have never imagined all the neat things you can cook in a dutch oven. You put coals at the bottom of the pan and then add whatever you're cooking and you put the cover on and add a few coals to the top. Some people made main dishes (like turkey), some made side dishes (like potatoes with cheesy sause) and others made desserts. A couple of people even baked bread. There were horseshoe contests for the big people and boat races for the little people powered by rubber bands (very cute) and 21 people were baptised in the river. It was a lot of fun.

As you can see if the picture above, Bob got a new tool pouch and he's ready to go to work!

This is so cute

Here's a picture of Jeff when I first met him - at Aunt Debbie's wedding. so Cute. Forgive me Jeff.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Jeff is celebrating his 31st Birthday tomorrow! The 30's are a lot of fun - past the 'young' issues and in the prime of your life. I'm sure this year's birthday of working on the garage won't hold a match to going to Mexico like he did last year. I guess there is a time for everything. Well, Enjoy it Jeff - time flies by fast!

This picture was taken last night, fishing with Dad.

Work is slow/Fishing is Hot

Rick's been having fun this week fly fishing. It's a lot more fun when you catch fish so he's having a ball.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Today is Allison's Birthday! I hope you're recovering well and can enjoy your special day!

Pictures

Leaving a legacy!

Happy Birthday Ricky!

Rick had an enjoyable day today. He slept in, I made him breakfast, he played on his computer for awhile, I made him lunch. He got tired so he took a nap. Then we had a BBQ with Jeff, Sara, Nick, Brittany and Nicole. It was quite enjoyable. You know you're getting old when the highlight of your day was your next meal! He had a fun one - but he said he's ready to find some work. He's very bored and needs something to do. Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday Takashi 'Tug' Hanami

We spent the weekend in Hermiston celebrating Tug's 90th Birthday. It was great to see a constant house full of friends and family. Hermiston also had a street fair which was fun. After Sara's wedding, I believe we need more parties in life! We have so much to celebrate and be thankful for. Also added pictures of Rick and Bob who built the tomatoe stands.

Good Bye to Java

Well Tuesday was Java's last day. She had numerous tumors - some fatty, some likely were not. It's pretty quiet around here - more so than I thought it would be. After nearly 13 years in our family, it was sad to see her unable to get up most days. She was the frizbee queen, while Kona preferred to fetch balls. She will certainly be missed.

Reflection

I've been reading this book called Half Time by Bob Buford. It's about looking back at the first half of your life/career and making decisions about what you want your life to count for during the second half. Like a football game - at half time- it's a time of reflection and planning for the second half. Questions like - what do you want to be known for? What impact did you have? What do you want said about you at your eulogy? are just a few questions from the first chapter. It's a great book for anyone at or nearing a mid point in their life/career.

They're Home!

Nick and Sara arrived home last night. They had a good time and really enjoyed Cancun. Nilla and Lucky were VERY happy to see them too. I would guess that they will spend the day recovering from vacation. I think everyone knows how that feels!

Happy 4th of July to All!

Tomorrow is Independance day! Enjoy and have fun. We are having some friends over to eat (of course) and watch the fireworks that are lit from the school, just a few blocks from our house.

Update on the Honeymooners

Sara called this morning to say their excursion yesterday was great. She was a little concerned since she got violently sick the night before but then drank a bottle of pepto bismo and it stopped everything. They have been very careful to brush their teeth with bottled water etc. but then she remembered her coworker told her that lettuce for salad is rinsed in regular water and Sara had eaten a salad that night. Anyway, she made it on the 1 1/2 hour bus ride and floated down the river/stream of the underground caves. They really enjoyed it. They snorkeled and saw beautiful fish and napped on hammocks at the beach. How nice! Then last night, there was a show of dancers, etc. They got back to the resort after 11:00 pm so they were pretty tired. Today is hang out by the pool and beach day and get a souvenier. Tomorrow is more snorkeling and then Saturday is about coming home. Lucky (the cat) finally came out from hiding last night and found that he could jump on and off our bed all night for entertainment. Finally, at 4:00 am this morning, Rick got up and made coffee and we decided to start our day. I think we will terrorize him all day to keep him awake so that he might sleep tonight. We could sure use some right about now!

Pictures from Rose