The Jensen Jungle

Italy- Tuesday

2010-07-09T19:10:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we visited the Vatican. The Vatican really requires at least an entire day! There is so much to see!

We entered into this cool courtyard …

and then into the Vatican museums. They are made up of long halls containing a plethora of sculptures, tapestries and frescos.

Laocoon and his sons- A famous sculpture depicting a scene from Greek and Roman mythology.

One of the Frescos in the Vatican. Possibly by Raphael, but I don’t really remember. There were so many!

After the frescos, we were led into the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing, but unfortunately, no pictures were allowed (although Nate has one that he snuck 15 years ago).

After we were finished in the Sistine Chapel, we decided to take the trek up to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica(That's me carrying Luke on our walk up). There are approximately 550 steps up to the top, but you can pay extra to take the elevator part of the way, and then you only walk about 320. So we paid the few extra dollars but we were still winded when we got to the top!

It was a beautiful view though! And worth every step! You can walk all around the dome and get a 360 degree view of Rome. Beautiful!

On our way back down, we stopped here and went to a gift shop where we bought a postcard to send to the kids because the Vatican mail is famously faster than Rome’s post!

Lastly we went inside St. Peter’s Basilica. WOW! Everything was so ornate! It was crazy!

Michelangelo’s Pieta- beautiful!

The altar by Bernini

Unfortunately, we were unable to make to the catacombs, because the Vatican closes at 6 pm. But the time we had there was great!

After leaving the Vatican, we headed out to find a place to eat for dinner.

On our walk to Piazza Navona, we passed Castel St. Angelo and crossed over the river.

Piazza Navona- we found a great little restaurant here and a great end to our 2nd day in Rome!

Italy-Monday

2010-07-02T18:23:00.001-07:00

In late May, we had the awesome opportunity to take a trip to Europe. Nate had a "global residency" for his MBA program in Prague and Munich for a week. My Mother was gracious enough to come and stay with Sadie, Isaac and Justin for the next week while I took Luke and joined Nate in Italy after his school work was done.

For those of you who don't know, Nate served a 2-year mission for our church in Rome from 1994-1996. He has always wanted to go back and finally we had the perfect opportunity! Amazingly, he was able to get me on a plane (I hate flying, especially over water!) and away from the kids for a few days.

I arrived on Monday, May 31 in the morning. We made our way back to the hotel where Luke and I got a little rest before we began our tour of Rome. That first day Nate took us on a walk through Villa Borghese (a big park near our hotel) to Piazza del Popolo, then down Via del Corso (a main road with a lot of shopping) to the Spanish Steps and then to Trevi Fountain.

I ate my first piece of authentic Italian pizza (YUM!) and some yummy gelato. It was a spectacular start to our Roman Holiday!

After an 8 1/2 hour plane ride (plus a 1 hour delay!) we are finally here!

Villa Borghese

Overlooking Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo

Pizza!

The Spanish steps

There are fountains all over Rome where you can get really good drinking water!

Trevi Fountain

August Recital

2010-02-06T17:19:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I'm catching up on a lot of blog posts that didn't get done before Luke was born! In August Sadie had her second piano recital. Her teacher volunteers at a nursing home. She only has a few students, so they have begun doing their recitals at the nursing home. It's a great opportunity for the kids to do a little service and the residents love them! There are some more "professional" numbers by people from church in addition to the recital pieces. It was a lot of fun!

Baby Luke has arrived!

2010-01-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

Luke David Jensen was born January 10 at 1:40 pm. He was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20.5 inches long!

He turned his head as soon as he heard his Dad talking to him.! It was so sweet!

The older kids were at church with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen when Luke was born. Luckily, the church is about 5 minutes from the hospital and they were able to visit right after Sacrament Meeting ended at 2:10.

Luke's first (or maybe second) bath at home.

Summer Fun: Swimming Lessons and Cheer Camp

2009-11-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

In late July last year, the kids had the chance to take swimming lessons. Justin took a Mommy and Me class, and the other kids took regular classes. They loved it as usual, especially jumping off the diving board.

Strangely, the week we took lessons was very cold. Justin didn't really enjoy his lessons for this reason, and because someone was telling him what to do. He just wanted to play in the warmer, shallow water!

Sadie also participated in Cheer Camp for the second year in a row. She loves it and does a great job! She even came in 2nd place in the Hula Hoop competition!

Summer Fun: Wilson's Wild Animal Park

2009-11-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

This July we went to a local wild animal park. It is literally 10 minutes from my house, but I just found out about it a year ago. We met some friends there and spent a few hours. It was a lot of fun for the kids.

Did y'll know we have a lion in Winchester??? I'm not too fond of the idea!

This camel LOVED Isaac and kept trying to lick him. He thought it was pretty funny!

Justin kept calling this a "green sea turtle", so we'll just let him believe that's what it is!

There were a few tractors for the kids to play on, one of Justin's favorite things!

There are also bears, but because they live in the wild here, I'd much rather see them behind a fence!

Fallow deer

The kids also got to feed the very friendly goats.

Summer Fun: Greenbrier State Park

2009-09-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Although we didn't go on a big trip this summer, we did do several fun things that I have neglected to blog about. Now that all the kids are in school, I'm catching up on recording all of our fun summer activities.

In July we took a trip to Greenbrier State park in Maryland. They have a great beach area for the kids to swim and play in. We took a picnic lunch and spent most of the day there having tons of fun!

Isaac's First T-Ball Game

2009-07-12T15:03:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday was Isaac's first T-Ball game. He's never participated in organized sports before, so he was really excited to start T-ball this summer. Unfortunately, two of the five practices were cancelled due to rain (we had a VERY rainy June), so the team wasn't really prepared. But then again, the kids are 5 and probably wouldn't have known what they were doing anyway!

The game was supposed to start at 7:30 pm (a horrible time!!) but the game before us wasn't done until 7:45! That doesn't make for a happy 3-year-old!

Isaac waiting for the game to start.

Justin wanted to join in too!

Isaac running from second to third base.

We've discovered that baseball is kind of boring for little kids! Isaac had a really hard time concentrating when he was out on the field. This is a picture of him twirling around and generally goofing off! He was pretty funny to watch. When he was running the bases, he would sit down and I would have to call to him to stand up and pay attention.

Of course, no one keeps score. All of the kids get a chance at bat, so everyone had a great time!

Justin's Yearly pictures

2009-07-05T18:35:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few of the pictures my friend Michelle took. He's pretty cute even if he is a rascal!

The Third Battle of Winchester

2009-07-02T20:10:00.001-07:00

Thursday evening, for Family Night, we decided to take the kids to the bike trails at the Third Battle of Winchester. It was the perfect evening, about 75 degrees (in July!!) and breezy. We had a lot of fun and did the approx. 4 miles in about an hour. It was quite different for the kids to ride on gravel instead of asphalt, but they did really well. Justin, of course, got to ride in luxury in the bike trailer and even got a short nap. Entrance to the bike trail.

Justin's ride on the back of my bike.

This was a really cool part of the trail where the trees make a canopy over the road. Sadie, of course, got scared because it was dark and a little creepy.
Justin enjoying himself on the ride.

It was a great activity to do together as a family!

Sadie's Dance recital 2009

2009-05-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Sadie performed in her dance recital for the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy. This was her second year with the Arts Academy and we still love it, especially her teacher. She was able be in a class with her friends Molly and Olivia, and they had a great time. Wow, aren't the costumes beautiful!

Molly, Sadie and Olivia looking like real ballerinas!

Sadie after the recital.

Sadie's whole class after the dress rehearsal.

This is a video of the dress rehearsal. Of course, the performance was better, but they don't allow video recording during the real thing.

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is one of my favorite days of the year. Mostly because my husband and kids do everything for me and I get to relax all alone in my room and nap or read after church. This morning I got chocolate cheesecake brought to me as my breakfast in bed. I had requested a cheesecake for Mother's Day and figured instead of a big real breakfast, I might as well apply the calories toward my favorite treat. Just for the record, I do not usually eat dessert for breakfast! Then I got my gifts (a spa treatment gift certificate and some books) and cards from the kids. Sadie wrote a Mother's Day song for me that I absolutely love! I'm not sure what the tune is, but here are the lyrics:

Happy Mother's Day to you,

Happy Mother's Day, let's shout "hooray!"

Thanks for all you do.

Happy Mother's Day wishes,

Have happy wishes,

We'll wash your dishes as you shout "Hooray!"

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I hope all you mothers have someone willing to do your dishes on Mother's Day. I'm sure glad I do!

The Bloomin' Mile

2009-05-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Every year Winchester hosts the Apple Blossom Festival. This is a BIG deal for a lot of people in the Shenandoah Valley. Kids get school off and there are 3 days of festivities. There are parades, a huge fireworks display (unfortunately it was cancelled this year due to construction), several races, a circus, etc. This is the third time Sadie has participated in the Apple Blossom Festival's kid's mile run, called the Bloomin' Mile. This year she ran it in 10 minutes and 58 seconds, better than her last two times!! She did a great job and we are so proud of her!

Sadie running the home stretch. Seeing us cheering her on really gave her a boost and helped her finish in under 11 minutes!

Justin made a new friend while we were waiting for the race to begin.

Isaac and Sadie found a tree to climb while we waited. Isaac stayed in that tree almost the entire hour and a half we were there!

Afterwards, we treated the kids to a dinner out and a trip to the bookstore since the fireworks were cancelled. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time!

Justin's favorite toy

2009-05-01T05:56:00.001-07:00

For Justin's 3rd birthday he got a geotrax train set. Then with his birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Day, he picked out some extra track to add to his set. This has turned out to be his best gift ever. He spends hours every day playing with it and reconfiguring the track. Luckily we have an empty dining room that allows him to have it set up all the time.

Most of the time he doesn't even use the remote control, he just pushes the train around the track.

Easter 2009

2009-04-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm finally posting this years Easter pictures!! Sadie, Isaac and Justin had a lot of fun looking for their baskets and eggs.

They each received a Webkinz from the easter bunny.

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came to visit the day before and Grandma helped the the kids color eggs.

They were tie-die. Pretty cool!
This picture was taken after church. Isaac wasn't feeling well, as you can tell. The poor kid was sick for the rest of the day and never really ate any of his Easter candy.

Girls Night In

2009-04-10T05:31:00.000-07:00

Today starts spring break for our school district, so Sadie and a few of her friends had a great idea to kick off the break. A SLEEPOVER! They've been planning it since Monday, on the ride to dance class. So last night we had three 8-year old girls running (and I literally mean running) around our house until 11 pm. They did stop occasionally to watch a little bit of "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" and eat some popcorn and Orange Julius (Sadie's favorite). Overall they were really good and had a lot of fun. Then at 7:30 this morning they were up running around again!

Isaac's book presentation

2009-03-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Today at school, Isaac presented one of his favorite books to his Kindergarten class. It is called "Wall E: Smash Trash". He loves this book and has been working really hard on learning it for his class. He was also the "Top Apple" this week, which means he is the line leader and gets to help his teacher during carpet time

Here is Isaac helping Miss Wurst with the days of the week and numbers of school days, etc.

Isaac did such a great job reading his book to the class! Unfortunately my memory ran out before I could finish recording, but I did get most of it. Way to go Isaac!

Justin's Third Birthday

2009-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, we do know that Justin doesn't actually turn three until March 14th. But since Grandma and Grandpa Jensen are going to be in Florida then, we decided to celebrate it a little early this year. It was a beautiful day, so Justin got to go to the park and play outside quite a bit. One of his favorite things to do! Then, once the cake was finished and the gifts were wrapped, the festivities began!

He loved opening all of his gifts!

Everyone loved the Geotrax, even the big kids!

The Lego's were a big hit too!

Then it was time for the cake! Can you guess the theme???

Thanks to Gina for for the cute tractor sweat shirt and for letting us borrow her tractor cake pan.

The birthday boy enjoying his cake and ice cream!

A wonderful time was had by all. We are so grateful for such a wonderful little boy! Happy Birthday Justin!

Snow Day!

2009-02-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

Well, we have yet another snow day without an appreciable amount of snow, so I felt it was fitting to post pictures from our last snow day! We finally broke out the home-made finger paints and they worked surprisingly well. And they are made with soap, so when the kids are done, just rinse off their hands and they are sparkling clean! You can even use them in the tub, but we have not tried that yet!

Then with their hands clean, it was time for some kid-friendly baking. Snickerdoodles are great for the kids to make.

I think Justin ate every cookie we gave him to roll!
Just look at our beautifully deformed snickerdoodles! Yum!

Air and Space Museum

2009-01-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday (yes, the day of the inauguration!) we decided to take a trip to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum at Dulles with some friends. It turned out to be the perfect time to go! No one was there because of the inauguration, so parking was easy and the kids had a lot of space (no pun intended) to run in the museum. The kids were enthralled by all of the planes, rockets, missiles and the huge space shuttle. We had a great time.

Ellen, Sadie, Justin, Kenzie (in the stroller), Isaac, Raenie and Dallin

A real, live space suit!

The museum is basically one huge hanger, and this is one end of the hanger from the central stairway.

This is the other end.

Justin and Kenzie are so cute together!

The kids in front of the space shuttle Enterprise. (Not to be confused with Starship Enterprise)

Gigantic missiles.

I'm not sure what this is, I think it's a satellite or something. Raenie and I thought it looked totally fake, like something out of an old Flash Gordon movie!

The kids running Air Traffic Control. Frightening!

A view from the Air Traffic Control tower. I think that is Ashburn, the town where we used to live.

Let it Snow!

2009-01-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

Monday we finally had snow!!! We've had a lot of precipitation this winter, just none of the good stuff...until yesterday. It started while we were at Jazzercise, so on the way home the kids were begging me to go outside. But we had to get lunch first...

Then I had to get a shower...

then we had to go to Costco.
Finally, the torture was over and we got to go outside.
We had such a great time that we hardly noticed the frigid temperatures.

Sadie and Isaac had to help shovel the driveway.
What great little helpers!
We even managed to eke out a snowman with the little snow we had.

And when we finally found a stick to use for the arms, Sadie and Justin insisted in holding his hands for a picture.

The kids pictures

2009-01-13T13:33:00.001-08:00

Last year my friend Michelle got a cool new camera. She was nice enough to experiment with it on my kids and I think she got some really good shots.

Justin's 2-year pictures: Sherando Park May 2008

Sadie and Isaac's yearly pictures: Sherando Park October 2008

Happy Birthday Sadie!

2008-12-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sadie had her 8th birthday on November 22. Can you believe I have an eight year-old??
We were able to have her baptism on that day as well. It was great! All of her grandparents were able to be there as well as some close friends.

She is such a good girl and we are so proud of her.

Halloween

2008-11-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating!

Justin was Buzz Lightyear, Isaac was the red Jungle Fury Power Ranger, and Sadie was Dorothy. How cute!!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen even came to help out!

Thankfully, the candy is almost gone and we can recover before Thanksgiving arrives.

Autumn

2008-10-12T14:13:00.000-07:00

I love Autumn!! I hate the summer heat, so when Fall finally arrives I get soooo happy! (Or is it because school starts? I'm not quite sure!) I was so excited to move back East eight years ago after having lived in Utah for five years. There are a few trees in the Beehive state that do turn colors, but there is nothing like Fall here in the Shenandoah Valley! I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!

One of our favorite things to do here in the Autumn is visit the local farms and orchards. Saturday, we were invited to a party at Hill High Farm in Winchester. There the kids were able to take a hayride, pick pumpkins and apples, play on tractors and pet the farm animals. It was crazy and tons of fun!

We finally have a Blog!

2008-10-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have finally given in and started a blog. I know I am way behind the times, but better late than never, right? Hopefully some of you will actually read it!