Favorite Post Ever

This is my most favorite post ever! (Provided by: Shannon)

Random Updates...

* At 9:00 PM last night, it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get home from the U, how lame is that?
* I reserved my copy of Breaking Dawn today, which can be picked up at 12:00 AM Saturday morning!
* I will finally be done with summer semester on Friday by 9:30 AM, anyone want to celebrate with me? I'm thinking breakfast Saturday morning, or something fun Friday night. I'm open to anything, with anyone who wants to!
* I officially decided not to buy my dream car. I should save the money for a house (hopefully next year).
* I think I want to see "The Dark Night" again, even though it really scared me. I missed the first couple of scenes the first time and kind of want to see them.
* I am ridiculously obsessed with being wealthy, I went to a girl's house in my class and she lives in Federal Heights. I want to live like the other half. I need to get over that and be grateful for what I have.
* I lost one pound this past week for "Jensen Slim Down," kind of a pitiful start, but at least it's a start.
* I am pretty sure I ate my weight in yogurt covered pretzels last night, they are so good!
* I get to go see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" tonight with my ward.

Singles Ward Junkie

As I have mentioned before, I have started going to a new singles ward. This is my fourth singles ward and usually my opinion of these wards goes down with each new ward I attend. This is not the case for my new ward, I am loving it! Everyone has always said that going to activities makes all the difference and I never believed them, but now I am a believer. Last week at FHE I met Shannon and she has been a Godsend! She is just the friend I needed and exactly who I needed to start getting involved in the ward.

I don't think I have had as much fun as I have in these last couple of days in a long time. Sunday I went to ward prayer and afterwards we played games. We decided to play "Duck, Duck, Goose," a game I haven't played since probably elementary school. It was so much fun! I couldn't stop laughing! Watching grown men turn this game into a competition was so funny, the looks on their face were priceless.

Last night I went to FHE and we went ice blocking, another activity I haven't done in ages! It was so much fun. It got super hot walking up the big hill so many times that we moved into the shade to play games. We played the hand game, the question game, big booty, and tag. It was so fun, and again I couldn't stop laughing. After it had gotten darker we went back to ice blocking and attempted going down in a train, it was so fun! Oh man, it makes me smile just thinking about it.

Basically, it is a pretty sweet ward and I have loved meeting so many new people. Everyone has been so nice and I think I know more people in this ward than I ever knew in my last 3 ward combined! Thanks to everyone for being my friend!

Oh What A Weekend!!!

This weekend has been on of the best weekends in a long time. I will go back to Wednesday night that we got James and Josh and went to the parade and fair in bountiful. We watched such a good firework display from our roof with the kids.
Me and Kimmy at the parade... Amy, me, and the kids on the roof...

Thursday, the 24th, was fun, we went back to the fair, hung out around the house and played with 7 kids. One activity was a water balloon fight. Amy and I took an hour to fill a bunch up for the kids and then they took all of 5 minutes to have them all popped...

Evidence of our efforts...Friday night with a ward blood drive and then I actually hung out with a group of people (yes, that is right, I have friends). We had dinner, played games, and watched Office episodes outside at a kid in my ward's house. It was really fun and I enjoyed getting to know a lot of new people in my ward.

Me, Shannon, Adam, and Jon all proud of our life-saving efforts...

The next event on the docket I was so excited for! We have been planning a surprise birthday Luau for Jenny. We transformed Heidi's house to a little Hawaii get-a-way, it looked so good! She showed up as scheduled and it was so fun to surprise her! The night then consisted of the best food, slip-n-slide fun, a little rain, and lots of family time.

Pedicures at David's Nails...
Slip-n-slide...Jamie and I doing who knows what...
Extreme slip-n-slide with Oakley and Amy, Check out Oakley's face...

Today I switched my records to my new ward and I am really excited! I have been going to this new ward for about a month and I love it! I made a goal to go to most of the activites. I have done good so far and moving my records will hopefully help as well. I have met a lot of great people as well and I am so glad to have new friends! I also finished another online class! Only one more test this week and I am done with summer semester!!! I am so excited!

Little Blessings

I have been overcome with the little blessings I have noticed in my life these last couple of weeks. There hasn't been any earth shattering miracles or happenings, but my life have been so blessed and I am so grateful for it! Most of these little blessings have come in the form of other people, and that almost makes me more grateful.

It started a couple of weeks ago when I was e-mailing a girl from my stats class about a homework assignment and at the end she replied with a long e-mail about what a catch I am and that I will find my husband someday. It was so nice of her and unexpected. I also heard from my favorite high school math teacher. I seemed to be better friends with my teachers than anyone else in high school, and hearing from her was so nice! We got caught up and she was so nice to tell me how much she appreciated our friendship. Yesterday I received a phone call from an old home teacher who was just calling to see how I was doing since he hadn't seen me for a while. We were never good friends, more acquaintances, so his phone call was unexpected but so nice and thoughtful. And again today, I received a facebook invite for a friend of a girl that I met at FHE that wanted to invite me to an activity on Friday night with some people in our ward. How nice of her to take the time to find me of facebook and go out of her way to make me feel invited?

Many of you know that I am not good at making friends and often get down on myself. These simple acts that these people have made have made me realize how much people really do care and how lucky I really am to come in contact with so many great people.

I could go on and on about the little blessings I enjoy from living with Trent and Amy and their kids. It is so fun to be able to see the world through those kids eyes and enjoy the miracle of watching them grow and learn. I am also so grateful for the friendship I have with Trent and Amy. They are about as big as my social life get and I love it!

There are many more little blessings in my life and I am going to make a point to look for them and enjoy them. Too often they go by unnoticed and unappreciated and life it too short to not notice the little things.

Fat Girls No Mo'

So Amy and I have devised a plan to help any who want lose weight. We aren't experts, but we felt that if we had people aware of our efforts and supporting us it would be a great help!

We have set up a blog (http://jensenslimdown.blogspot.com) to help track our progress and keep everyone posted. Anyone who wants to join in our efforts if more than welcome to. Hopefully we can help each other and become a good resource for losing weight.

And in reference to the title, yes we are white. Trent thought people might be a little confused.

The Sad Truth

It has happened, the scale has started to creep back up. I am surprised it hasn't happened earlier with the way I have been eating and lounging recently. I probably haven't noticed since my muscle weight has slowing been deteriorating into fat weight, but I can feel the difference now. I knew this would happen since I have been so lazy and the time has come to take action.

I tried "Fat Jill No Mo'" and that didn't work, not that I put much effort into it, but it is time for the new and improved Fat Jill No Mo'. I need to get back in the routine of working out and eating a lot better than I am right now.

This is probably more than any of you wanted to know about my weight problems. But I thought if I let you all in on my awful weight loss plans, I could be aided in creating a new work out regime.

I have let such stupid reason get in the way of working out like: washing my hair that day and not wanting to wash it again, wanting to get home to be with my pseudo family, thinking I will work out when I get home and just sitting there, getting into a book (bad idea!). The list goes on and on and it always seems like there is something better to do than working out. I enjoy working out (once I've started), I feel so much better when I work out, I sleep better when I work out, and I can eat a little more when I work out. There are so many BIGGER and BETTER reasons to working out, but why is it so hard?!?!

If anyone has some brilliant idea of how to fit exercise into your life and stick to it let me know. I've done it before and it was possible, but I don't know why I am having such a hard time getting back to it.

Hawaii is exactly 6 months from tomorrow and I am hoping to use that as my new motivation and goal. Having a deadline and goal seemed to help a lot last time, and what better motivation to lose weight than a trip that you spend most of your time in a swimsuit?

I am open to suggestions and advice, and even a partner in my quest.

Second Opinion?

Are you sure no one wants me to buy this? It just fits me, don't you think?

Creepy...

If you recall a previous post, a lady in my class took a picture of me because she liked my glasses. Well there is an update to this lady's creepy factor.

A girl I work with told me this little story...

"Last week in one of my classes this lady gets up in the front of the class and says that she spoke to a girl about buying her statistics book. She proceeds to pull out a full 8X10 picture of this girl and asks if anyone know her. Low and behold the picture is of you! She said she had taken your picture on her cell phone and needed to find you for your book."

Yes, creepy. This lady had printed out an 8X10 picture of me to ask if anyone knows me. Hopefully no one else in that class knows who I am, that is so embarrassing!

The Decision is Made.... Sadly

Thank you one and all for your opinions. It was a resounding NO and I think it is the smart thing to do. I want it so bad and it would be so fun, but too impractical. I just can't do it.

I decided that I should save the extra money to save up for a house (or some living arrangement in the future). That is the more responsible thing to do. Although, after watching scary movies two nights in a row I don't know how I expect to live alone, and neither does Trent. Maybe if he wants to ever get rid of his basement-dweller, he should stop inviting me to watch scary shows.

Anyways... I will just have to keep dreaming of my car and sit back and watch someone else take my car. I already had a name picked out for her and everything. It is so sad!

What to do?

So the amazing opportunity has arose to buy a Range Rover. I know, sounds flamboyant, but my credit union collected one off of a bankruptcy. It is SUCH a good deal and I have always wanted one. The decision has been weighing on me and I just don't know what to do.

What do I do? Follow logic and shy away from the gas-guzzling money-sucker? Or go for my dream of having the car I have always wanted for a price I will never find again?

I would like people's opinion, what would you do? Keep my gas friendly, oh so cute, Mazda3 or buy the amazingly attractive, dream vehicle of a life time?

(Not the actual car, but it looks the exact same, isn't it SOOOO cute?)

Memory Lane

I saw this on Annie's blog and loved the idea! I seem to forget too many details of my life and hopefully other people will remember! Here is the scoop...

1. Add a comment on my blog. Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Please don't feel obligated to play and feel free to be as honest as you want, good or bad. A little self-evaluation is always a good thing.

Perfect Saturday

Yesterday was the perfect Saturday, I resorted back to my 10 year old summer days. I started it off right by sleeping in, just a little, until about 9:00. I got up and Amy had made homemade pancakes (my favorite). After breakfast I ventured outside with the kids for a little summer fun. We got out the blow up swimming pool and filled it up. Aiden was the only one really entertained by it, but we had fun. When the fun of that had worn off the kids went to help Trent, leaving me alone to soak up the sun. I started to read Eclipse (Twilight series) again to refresh myself on the story before the next book comes out. When lunch rolled around I made myself a peanut butter and honey sandwich, one of my favorites!

After lunch the kids were ready to come outside again. We attached the sprinkler to the hose and put it under the tramp. It was so much fun to play with those boys and remember how such simple things can be so fun. Quite time rolled around which left me alone to my reading again in the sun.

Reality was looming and I had a test to take, so I figured I better get it over with. I did my usual last minute studying and took the test. Much to my surprise I got 100% on it, shocking! I've struggled on my tests in that class so I was so pleased to do well on one of them finally.

I finally got ready for the day at about 5:30 since I had committed to attempt to be social and go to a YSA activity. I got up the courage to go and met up with some of my friends there. I didn't socialize much, but to me getting myself there was a victory. I remembered immediately upon arrival why I don't like going to activities, but was trying to optimistic. It wasn't all that bad, no major connections were made, but that wasn't my goal.

I ended off my night resorting back to my childlike state and watched "Golden Compass" with the gang and then topped everything off with a slumber party with the boys in my bed.

The past several weekend have been packed with activities so it was nice to have a Saturday to do whatever I wanted. It turned out to be pretty fantastic!

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July was a holiday celebrated in the good ol' Jensen tradition of making it last as long as possible, I loved it! It started off with the weekend at the cabin. It was so fun to get away from life and just relax. It was so pretty up there! I think the late winter has kept everything so green, and I just love it!

The time was filled with the usual activities.... 4-wheeling. This was so fun with the kids that loved it so much...
A little hike with the babies...
We ventured down to Oakley to catch the fireworks after the Rodeo, the back of the car served as our grandstand...

The whole clan (that went to fireworks)...

Next on the docket of festivities was a BBQ with fireworks at Trent and Amy's. We did this last year and it was so fun that we planned it again. It was so fun to get together, eat good food, and enjoy the fireworks.

Jamie and I, sadly this was like the 8th picture Mike took of us because we hated all of them. I am glad we held out for a good one, isn't Jamie cute?...

Amy and I, I am so glad we are such good friends, living with her is the best...

Paige and I, love this little bug...

Sorry for the lack of pictures of the festivities at Trent and Amy's, I am selfish and only wanted to post pictures with me in them, and this is all I was involved in.

Holidays are my favorite! They always provide something to do, time with the family, and usually a lot of good food!

Procrastination... Gotta Love It!

I have finally finished all of my school work for this week (Yes, it is 1:30 in the morning). This week turned out to be one of those weeks that everything is due. I had two papers due, two homework assignments, and a test. Tonight I finished my 8 page paper that I have been putting off since the beginning of June. This is quite typically how I do my homework. The saddest part is that the paper isn't due until Friday, so I was pretty excited I wasn't actually leaving it to the night before. I thought to myself... "I am actually getting this done in reasonable time." It is so sad how years of procrastination have warped my sense of deadlines.

It is weeks like this that make me so ready to be done with school. I only have three more weeks of summer semester (YEAH!!!). I will finally get a three week summer break with no school (Double YEAH!!!). And at the end of August I will start my LAST SEMESTER (TRIPLE YEAH!!!). I can not believe I am almost done with college. People who graduate college have always seemed so old to me and it has always seemed forever away, and now here I am, almost done (and not quite as old as everyone seems when they graduate)!

Tech NERD!!!

So about a month ago my phone just stopped working. I was so irritated because it was barely two years old. I had to resort to my first phone ever, which wasn't bad, but I am a total tech nerd. I love tech toys and such. So since I had my "new every two" incentive from Verizon, I decided it was time to upgrade. I have looked at phone for weeks and was excited when Verizon came out with a phone last week called "Dare." Lame name I know, but the phone is awesome! I ordered it last Thursday and it came today! I was so excited all day, checking my e-mail about every 10 minutes to see if it was delivered. I got home and got to open the beauty...
We had a family party (pictures and info to come) and I couldn't stop playing with my phone. I made everyone pretend they were as excited as me and look at all the things it did. I'm sure no one cared, but I appreciated the courtesy interest. The more I got excited about my phone the more nerdy I felt, but I am ok with that. I am a gadget person and I have come to accept that a long time ago.

I know this phone is a iphone want to be, but I really like it and didn't have to switch service and it was cheaper. I am just as happy with this, plus after listening to Trent talking about Mac's being for idiots, I didn't want to take my chances and him think I was an idiot.

I have two exciting events and photos to post about, and yet you get to hear about my phone first. Are you getting how big of a nerd I really am now?

Mountain Oasis.... Here I Come!!!

With our country's birthday tomorrow, it is time to head up to the cabin for our yearly tradition. I just love going up there and spending time with the family. It is so pretty up there in early summer and it is so nice to get out of the heat of the valley. Who wouldn't want to escape here for a couple of days?
Breathtaking views...
Calm of the forest...
Pictures are compliments of Jamie from our last adventure up at the cabin. It really is a little slice of heaven on earth. Dad is so nice to share with all of us!

Best Family

I am so lucky to have such an amazing family. This past weekend a lot of us were in St. George and it was so fun to spend time together. This coming weekend is our traditional 4th of July weekend at the cabin. I am so excited to be with everyone and just hang out. They all are truly my best friends and I don't know what I would do without every single one of them!

Family pictures when everyone was in town... That is one big Jensen family!
My sisters are my best friends, I love my relationship with all of them...
The Family at Home Sweet Home...