Merry Christmas Everyone

Hey...look at that...it's been so long since we updated our blog that the border is still current! How about that?! Happy Holidays!

TAGGED

So, I've been tagged by my sister-in-law Alyssa. I usually don't participate in tags for 3 reasons.

A- I'm pretty boring, therefore I don't have much to show and tell.

B- When and if I get tagged I think or say I'll do it later....and I never do!

C- I don't really ever get tagged.

So in this tag you are supposed to find the 6th picture in the 6th folder and this is what I got. If it was any other picture I might not have participated, but I couldn't resist. This is my cute Ellie Faye (4 yrs old) at a rodeo in Tremonton, UT. Of all my bros and sis I was the one that hated anything to do with horses, boots, manure....(anything cowboy) when we were growing up (I think it's cause all of my siblings chose horses and rodeos over a swimming pool) anyway who would have thunk there would be evidence of my child in boots at a rodeo!?!

COWGIRL UP, ELLIE!

P.S. I tag Megan, Amy, Melinda, Krystal, Libby and Brenna!

And....We're Back!

OK, OK! So it's only been..what? 2 months since my last post? Sorry to all of my cyber friends out there, and I know their are a lot of you (pretty much just you, Annee!)

Well, I guess I don't have any really great excuses except that, well actually I did come up with a few!

-We bought a house at the end of December and with that, we had to move ALL of our stuff...AGAIN!

-The second week in January Todd had knee surgery. So now, not only am I a taxi driver, a referee, a maid, a chef, a tutor, a housekeeper, a handy-man, a beautician, and an entertainer....but now I am a nurse!

-Did I mention I am a mother of 6....yes, 6!

-I am in the middle of training for a Ragnar Relay Race that is in 1o days. The run is from Flagstaff to Tempe. I've been pounding the pavement a little more these last couple of months running. er, a, jogging? maybe more like shuffling!?! fine! walk, jog, skip, shuffle, gallop...whatever!

-I went on a nice, long, warm, relaxing, kid-free vacation by myself! OK, so I lied! I went for a weekend to UT. But I was pretty much kid free so that's all that really matters, right?

-All I have to say is 3 letters...R S V! Yes, Maddox and Rigdon are just getting over RSV. Good thing I'm a nurse!

-So here I am @ 2:00am writing a post. I am so going to pay for this tomorrow, but it was nice to cross this off my to do list and catch up with you.

-And one more reason....probably the most important! We FINALLY got our Internet service today!!! YEAH for modern technology.

1, 2, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, ROCK!

Today was 50's day @ the kids school and I think I was more excited then the kids were. I tried to talk the older twins to get into the spirit of things, but it didn't fly.

Chase and Ellie were much more persuasive as you can see. These two have a

very cute relationship and I am amazed at how well Chase puts up with our little drama queen.

(We love you Ellie Faye!)

Utah or Bust

So here I am with my "Utah Mom, and my Utah Sister!" When we moved into our house in Brigham City 8 years ago, that beautiful red-head next to me sorta adopted me and my little family. (You cant see it or tell but I am the "tall" daughter. I am 5'10 and these two on either side of me maybe can claim 4'11....maybe on a spectacular day. I must be kneeling down!?!)

Anyway, the hot blond on the other side of me is Candace Jensen the daughter of Debbie (the fiery red-head) Do you follow? K.

A little over a year ago I set Candace up with a relative of a friend and.....Yep! 1st comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage! So Candace and her cute husband Colby are having a little girl any minute...all because of me (you too Nicole-you know I love ya). So that was my excuse for going to UT for Candace's baby shower.....that and if I didn't go somewhere soon, I might not be here today. I decided to surprise Chase and take him with me for his birthday.

FYI: I know what your thinking and your right! I do have the best husband for letting me go and never complaining that he had to stay home and be Mr. MOM. (He did however try to talk me into taking the babies with me but I think he was doing that just to make sure I was coming back!)

Levi and Chase have been BFF's since pre-school. It was a surprise for both of them to see each other when Chase got there. Chase didn't know he was going until about 2 hrs. before we left. When I told him he got teary eyed or as he likes to say "his eyes were sweaty." He couldn't stop smiling and saying thank you. When they saw each other its like they picked up right where they left off-they didn't even skip a beat!

When it was time to leave I lost it cause Chase and Levi got a little misty.

Don't worry Levi, you haven't seen the last of us yet!

I had so much fun seeing old friends and catching up! This weekend was one big Girls Night Out...and I really needed it. Thanks for the fun times Adriane and Mindy!

It was so nice to see my BFF Becky. It felt like I just saw her last week. Hmmm, I guess it was last week. We went out to dinner and to a Boutique (you looked hot by the way) and did a little shopping. It's always a party when I'm with Becky. We can be all glammed up and go out, or wear our pj's and stay home and watch the Grammies.

I miss those days Becky!!!

Happy Birthday Chase!

So while we were in Utah, Chase's Utah mom, aka "Mindy Griffin" was nice enough to throw Chase a birthday party and invited all of his old friends.

Chase had so much fun and is still bragging it up to his older brothers.

Thanks Mindy for making this trip so memorable for Chase. How can we ever repay you? The Griffins are so sweet to Chase and have asked me on more then one occasion if they could just keep Chase..... sorry guys. I promise we will come and visit soon. Now it's your turn to come see us in AZ. By the way, Mindy and Jason have three adorable boys and are expecting a girl this summer! CONGRATS!!! Everyone needs at least one "Drama Queen" in the family. In our case we can only handle one. (We love you Ellie Faye!)

Chase has decided to wait until Grandma and Grandpa can come to AZ next month to get baptized. We can't wait. Happy Birthday Chase! I Love You!

Chase and his buddies: Alex, Cooper, Ryan, Jaden, Levi, Conley, Ronnie, Chase, and Caleb!

Thanks for coming guys. Chase's birthday will not soon be forgotten!

Chase and "Cooper Duke Clark Laing Jensen!"

We get the biggest kick out of Cooper who is Candace Jensen's son. It was no accident that these two boys were brought together. We would claim him as one of our own....in fact I think Todd has on occasion.

Twins With Twins

It is so fun to see our older twins (Cameron top, Jackson bottom) to interact with our younger twins (Maddox top, Rigdon bottom). The older boys are such a great help and never complain (almost never) when I ask them to help me with the babies. Every morning before school Jax and Cam get the babies up out of bed, change their diapers....even poopy ones, change their cloths, feed them, burp them, and play with them while I get myself and Ellie ready.

I love you guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON AND CAMERON

Cameron Jensen, Jackson, and Cameron

This is Jackson, Cameron And their best friend from Utah, Cameron Jensen. For their birthday surprise Todd and I flew Cameron J. here to AZ for the weekend and we had one big party! The boys were so surprised and we had a great time. Cam J. kept telling us how warm it was here and how his dad would love this weather. The boys went swimming (even though the pool was freezing) played on our pirates ship, played football, went to the movies, an indoor bounce park, played football, went to see the beautiful Mesa AZ temple lights, ate A LOT, and did I mention that they played FOOTBALL? I kept asking his mom every time I talked to her if we could just keep him....but as we all know, all good things come to an end and we will be sad to see him go tomorrow! I assure you there will be tears, and probably mostly mine. Thanks Nicole and Jason for sharing your sweet son with us this weekend. The memories these boys made will not soon be forgotten. WE LOVE YOU CAMERON JENSEN!!!!

This is the boys at the Mesa Temple looking at the Christmas lights. I must say that this is the most beautiful display of lights I've ever seen! Cameron J. agreed with me aswell.

Happy Official World Race Day

So today December 13, 2008 was declared Official World Race Day by my sister-in-law

Annee. To back up a bit, Annee and her husband Darin used to live about 25 miles from us when we lived in Brigham City, UT. A few years ago we were at their home having a wonderful Sunday dinner (I miss those days Annee) and I picked up a Runners World magazine from her table and that's where it all began......So here I am today, about 30 5K's, maybe 20 or so 10K's, several 15K's, at least a dozen half marathons, and 5 MARATHONS later! THANKS ANNEE!

Back to my story; Annee now lives in Korea and she decided to ask anyone from around the world to join her in a race....what a great idea! I have to admit that if I hadn't committed to her I may not have done it. A promise is a promise! At first she asked everyone to train for a 1/2 marathon because she hadn't been able to find that distance in Korea in the winter(I wonder why) and that we all could run it on the same day all around the world-so I told her I'd be the AZ rep. Now let me remind you that I had twins, yes 2 babies about 14 weeks ago and for some reason I was really giddy and excited to get back to my running. My mind and my heart were committed, just not my legs and my lungs. I told Annee it probably wouldn't be pretty....but I would try. Well to make a LONG run and LONG story short- I didn't quite get to 13.1 today, but I did 8 LONG miles. One for each of my kids, one for my husband (and cheerleader), and one for you Annee. I thought of our last marathon we ran together and the great memories that were made-I hope it's not the last! Thanks for getting me out there, getting me started and getting me home! Love you Annee!

FAMILY PICTURES

So yesterday was the ultimate task.....family pictures! I thought the last few Christmas cards we did pretty good, but throw 2 more babies in there and what do you get? I'll tell you....2 ten year olds that think its funny to pull crazy faces, a 7 year old who's smile is fake-and conveniently "forgot" how to do a real smile, a 5 year old girl...I mean 16 year old DRAMA QUEEN who thinks we are all here for her, 2 babies who wont look up at the camera for anything, a husband who was actually a pretty good sport but secretly is wondering why we even bother, and a stressed out mom who cant remember the last time she got dressed up for anything! Well truth be told I guess we did o.k. Now to get them all mailed out by Christmas is another story!

Baby Blessing

We finally got around to blessing Rigdon and Maddox. Here is our first family picture with all of us together!

Rigdon has discovered his tongue!

Maddox is always happy and easy going!

The lone Earnest representative...Thanks Marcus!

Halloween 2008

Back: Dead Grandma (Jackson), Dead Rodeo Clown (Cameron)

Front: Fancy Nancy (Ellie), Football Player (Chase)

All of the Cousins

Trick-or-Treating in Granddad's Train

Fancy Nancy and Super Girl

Dead Grandma with Rockwell

Football Player

Baby Pictures

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Roots - Free genealogy

Seminoles Improve to 3-0

The Mesa Seminoles improved to 3-0 on the young season with with a convincing 20-6 win over the Scottsdale Sandsharks on Saturday. The game was close going into half-time, but the Seminoles turned it on in the second half to pull away!

Cameron is starting center and a defensive subsitute. Jackson is starting wing-back and defensive end. Chase is a starting offensive tackle. All three of the boys are doing an awesome job and having lots of fun! Here are a few photos from Saturdays game.

This is one I took of two brothers on the team, taking a little break on the water cart during the second half.

Football Season

I don't know if Todd could be more proud. Here he is watching a BYU football game on a saturday afternoon with all of his boys...yes all 5 of them and to all you new lookers you are not seeing double! Maddox and Rigdon are on the couch very content enjoying their first BYU football game , Cam and Jax are cheering on their fav team and Todd and his "mini-me" Chase are taking it all in as well....could it be a better day? (Of course me and Ellie are off to the mall and that is why I like football season too!)

White Mountain Weekend!

Amber announced last week that it was time to get out of the heat and spend a weekend together as a family...alone. So we packed up, hit the road, and landed in Pinetop, AZ for Labor Day weekend...located in the beautiful White Mountains of Northern Arizona!

The drive up was a little interesting...now that we've maxed out the Suburban! No more "buffer" seats available to keep the kids at arms distance.

Ellie could barely be seen behind the two new carseats.

Once we arrived at the Cabin, the boys relaxed and spent some quality time with their new brothers.

Cameron, Jackson, and Chase decided to go on a snake hunt Saturday morning.

And they actually found a snake!

We had a picnic Saturday afternoon...

Rode Grandads four-wheeler...

And had a great time at the fast track! Chase set the record for the most wipeouts!

The kids planned a great spaggehti and meatball dinner...and it was delicious!

We played some football in the backyard...

And all-in-all had a great weekend together as a family!