24th of July

Every 24th of July is spent in the teeny village - sorry - town of Redmond. Redmond, Utah is the quaint town that Cameron grew up in and became who he is today - totally awesome!

It is also the only town in Utah that has a parade that promenades up main street and back again - so Cameron tells me.

Here are the attractions of our swell day near the three red mounds - hence Redmond.

Favorite Attraction: the billions of taffy candy being thrown to the scrambling candy pickers throughout the parade twice - remember... the parade turns around and comes back again.

Letting Go of the Apron Strings Attraction: watching the three older kids proclaim and tread up the street looking for their own spot to park - sniff sniff.

Dearest Attraction: Grandma and Grandpa Jensen - we love you!

Driving Attractions: the hundreds of 4-wheelers displayed in the parade and along side the streets of the parade. Apparently, this is the main transportation around town. The church parking lot has its fair share on the Good Day as well.

Yes, Grandpa has 4-wheelers that we get to test drive on our visits to Redmond.

Important Attraction: celebrating the beginning of Utah intertwined with the blessings of living in a free country that God has given us.

(Great Grandpa Christensen on the left and Great Grandma C. on the right.)

Wise Attractions: visiting with our favorite veterans and memory stories tellers.

Nostalgic Attraction: Although I love love small towns, I would rather live in the city - for now.

Big Concerned Attraction: the caterpillar haul truck from Redmond Clay and Salt - the best salt on earth. Adults line up every year to secure their very own jar of salt to take home.

We got three - woo hoo!

Each year, Cameron is troubled by this humongous truck and its colossal wheels. He is quite protective of every child in reach when it passes by and sighs with relief that he has yet another year before facing the giant again.

Here you see him (walking in the red shirt) being wholly territorial as he seeks for Trevor down the road - or perhaps he's hoping for more salt handouts.

Interesting Attraction: the gentleman sporting an 8 inch handlebar mustache curled and tweaked. I was quite disappointed to realize that my camera was stashed in the car when I went in search of it. It was an impressive mustache.

Other Fun Attractions: cotton candy, 4-wheeler train rides, a dozen kid games which included a prized gold fish for Trevor, fireworks, and being with family.

What a wonderful place to live!

The Language of Love

My Abuelita (from Chile) calls all of her great grandsons and granddaughters her princes and princesses. She speaks little English and greets family and strangers the same - a big hug and a smile. I don't know if anyone really knows her true age - she denies being old and will only admit to 87 years of life - that in itself is another story.

One day she was sitting across the table talking to Trevor in Spanish. Trevor was lapping it up because he could tell that she was singing praises to him. I quickly got up to attend to my hosting duties after Abuelita asked me for the 100th time why I hadn't taught my children Spanish.

It was then that Trevor grabbed my hand with panic in his eyes and said, "Mom don't leave, I need you to translate for me!"

I tapped his head and said, "Trev, just smile and nod - smile and nod."

The two prattled on for another 20 minutes as happy as can be.

The Purple Turtle

The last day of school not only brings good spirits of summer days and late nights to our little Jensenites, it also brings visions of purple turtles dancing in their heads.

We celebrate the last day of school by entering into my old stompin' grounds and ordering nummy shakes and the yummiest greasiest tator tots (Napoleon Dynamite approved) from the Purple Turtle.

To my delight and amusement, the kids anticipate this small diversion with great enthusiasm all year. Here's a journal entry from Trevor that cracks me up.

The shakes are so big that an overflow cup has to be used to hold it all. Instead of forking out moola for five shakes, we have been able to get away with three shakes and three overflow cups. Fortunately, the ladybugs don't know this and have been getting the 'leftover' cups for the last four years. I wonder how long that will last?

Even the side attraction of climbing old lava rocks is a big hit - as long as I pretend to ignore the "Do not climb on the rocks!" sign.

Finished Creation #4

I AM DONE!

While living in Washington, I came across a selection of cute cross stitching pieces in a boutique. Since it resembles an older era, I was instantly in love. I picked up cross stitching after moving from Washington to add a feel of nostalgia living to our abode.

This little article was started three years ago and finally finished this month - yeah for me!

This one is hanging in the guest room and was finished in due time.

I am ashamed to say that this piece was made as a gift to a dear family member, I liked it so much and couldn't bear the thought of making another one that I kept it for myself.

Shhhh.

My other creations are complete - my list is done....

1. I finished uploading ALL of my pictures onto the computer.

2. Created a food inventory for my pantry and storage.

3. Organized ALL of my favorite and well used recipes into a binder.

I LOVE IT! No more looking through a dozen recipe books and an index card holder.

4. The game closet is organized - compliments of Makayla -thanks!

Now that I am finished, I am ready to begin my 'summer projects'.

Hmm, I think I might wait until the kids are back in school - posts to follow in a couple of years.

Going '-ist' Crazy!

Through the years our family vocabulary has grown from “peek-a-boo” to full fledge, “I’m heading to the optometrist!”

It started with having kids. Who knew how many ‘ists’ there were in the world for kids?

We were launched into this ‘ist’ world with our first pediatrist appointment– many have come and gone since then.

The dentist takes second place in the most visited doctor category.

After 18 ear infections, the otolaryngologist FINALLY decided that Jarin needed tubes in his ears at 18 months. Then a private speech pathologist was hired and worked extensively with Jarin at age three for a couple of years to correct what his ears misheard all those ear infection days.

Later, a gastroenterologist was highly sought for due to the fact that a foolish mother who was paranoid of public bathrooms never let her kids use them. Because of this, one little Jensenite (name withheld) got so plugged up from not daring to use any bathroom that it took one gastroenterologist and many months to finally get their pipes cleared and working. I am now a fan of public bathrooms.

When Makayla was in 2nd grade, she was encouraged to write out her own spelling words each week – since she already knew the 2nd grade spelling list (sigh – proud mommy moment). Many high tech medical words were included such as, radiologist and perinatologist (the doctor who took care of me and my ladybugs growing inside of my belly).

Jarin’s cute flat feet needed a trip to the podiatrist. One podiatrist gave him orthotics and another podiatrist said he didn’t need them if he had no pain. Neither of them told me how to make Jarin’s shoes last longer than three months. I am absolutely resolute when I say three months and that is with good quality shoes – no Target or off brands shoes.

1 boy + 2 flat feet = 4 pairs of shoes yearly – that are literally run to the ground - no kidding!

Rebekah and Kerri were born and saw a good deal of ‘ists’ that I can’t even name or remember. However, I do have one cardiologist that we see every year for Rebekah – bless her little heart.

These are glamour shots the girls took of themselves after getting their glasses from the optometrist. The fact that they are twins doesn’t mean that they both need glasses, does it? At the risk of sounding brainless, I did not pose this question to the all-seeing doctor.

Makayla added an orthodontist onto the list in third grade not knowing that she would have to repeat another orthodontist again in four years.

Trevor introduced us to the allergist after a scary trip to the ER where we discovered he was allergic to pistachios, mangos and cashews.

A dermatologist is scheduled to look at a funny shaped mole growing a one particular scalp – joy!

After raising all these ‘ists’, I find that I may be in need of a psychologist.

My Tween is a Teen!

Happy Birthday to my precious, beautiful, brilliant,

reading guru, lovely, caring La La of the world!

We love you!

Before Makayla was born, I knew that I was going to have a girl and that her name would be Makayla. No, the doctor did not tell me – I just knew.

Makayla’s name was easy to choose. She was named after my favorite TV show – Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman – whose name was Michaela. Cameron did not want to name our daughter Michael with an ‘a’, so we agreed upon ‘Makayla Jo’.

Jo - from me, hardly anyone could pronounce my real name correctly so I went by Jo for safety measure.

Makayla’s first year of afternoon feedings was spent in my arms watching re-runs of Dr. Quinn. I was quite disappointed when the episodes ended.

It was not until earlier this year that Makayla was introduced to the nostalgic Colorado frontier life. We now giggle like a pair of school girls watching our favorite medicine woman and the rugged Mr. Sulley fall in love and forge a life in the unknown territories of the West.

Who would of known?

Trevor/moo.com

One afternoon, Trevor came home secretly hiding a note written from his teacher. It informed me that Trevor was asked to not make rude noises during lesson time and for me to please have a chat with him.

Hmmm, I could only imagine what kind of noises a 7 year old boy fully versed in Captain Underpants books was making.

When asked what noises he made that so rudely interrupted his class, he merely looked up from his after school snack and said, "Mom, I was just mooing."

What could I say? "Trev, please don't moo during class time." That was that.

Shortly after, I noticed that all of Trev's school work coming home had a unique signature: www.Trevor/moo.com

Trevor looked at my quizzical look and just replied, "My teacher didn't say anything about mooing on paper."

He's been Mr. Moo since.