Jensen Update

Hi! I have loved hearing everyone's updates I sure miss everyone and am so thankful to have such a great network of friends!

We are doing well. Adam likes his practice and work schedule. He gets bored in clinic when his days are slow, but I think overall he is happy with work. I am sure someday he will wish he wasn't so busy. I really love having him home more often. He is only on call around 4 times a month, 2 are on weekdays and the other two are weekends. The ER is really busy, but it's still better than residency! He has every Thursday off and Tuesday is a half day. It is great having a more predictable schedule. He is getting procedures scheduled quite frequently, but I think he would like some more OB. We are so proud of him! It is fun to go see his name all over the clinic, makes it seem real :)

As some of you know, I had been REALLY unsure about moving to Utah. But we have been welcomed so warmly and everyone has been great! We are in a great ward, with wonderful giving people. After being in a branch (which was amazing in it's own way) It is fun to enjoy a fully functioning ward ;) Can you believe we received 12 dinners after I had Annalee!? So spoiled!

And adding a 3rd child has been quite an adjustment. I just feel like my days are sooo hectic! I also have a lot of guilt trying to meet everyone's needs... but it is getting better. We were unsure how wise it would be to have another baby when Hayden isn't walking. But it has already been so good for him, since I can't baby him :) he has started crawling and pulling up to standing! We really had to trust the Lord having another baby that everything would be alright, and it is :)

Hayden is really doing great and saying a lot of words! He is such a happy easy going boy. In so many ways he is my easiest child! We are so lucky to have him in our family

Kyler is loving preschool. I got him into a preschool taught by a lady in our ward. Her preschool is "famous" around here for being really good and he is loving it. He goes M-Th 10-12. He is already sounding out words and I imagine he will be reading by kindergarten! She is such a sweet lady too. We were so lucky to get in.

I am having some problems with attitude with him and being respectful... any advice would be great! He is so.... um particular :) and he thinks he knows EVERYTHING! I feel like I have a teenager. I feel like I am so hard on him cause he is my first and acts so much older than he is. I expect a lot out of him, maybe too much. Anyway, I just hope I don't traumatize him with my lack of parenting experience.

Annalee is our sweet little girl! She really is such a pretty baby and I love watching people ooo and aaah over her :) I really love having a girl more than I ever thought I would. She is a sweet baby and also very sleepy. Which has been good and bad :) She was sleepy and had jaundice in beginning. She lost over 10% of her body weight and I guess I had low milk supply. So just like with Hayden I had to supplement and begin pumping AGAIN.... Ugh. But at 4 weeks she is eating and gaining on her own. Woohoo! She is still a sleepy eater, but at least she is gaining. I am not a patient nurser i guess either :) I just want to do get it done and move on. But her sleepiness helps at night. Most nights she will go 5 and then 4 hours between feedings.

Kyler adores his sister and is very patient. He is very sweet with her. Hayden has taken some time warming up to her, but he will love her I am sure when she is more interactive. Right now he at least acknowledges her ;) The other day he put his hand on hers and looked at her face and said , "hi." Maybe you had to be there, but it was so sweet! A few weeks before he would try to get away from her as soon as she was with in a foot of him :)

I feel like I am adjusting pretty well here. Everyone has been so nice and welcoming. Inviting me to activities etc. I really can't complain. It's also beautiful here I think. After being out on the flat plains, I love the view of the gorgeous mountains just outside our backyard! Well Annalee starting crying, oops missed my opportunity to shower before lunch! ;)

Hope all is well with each of you! Keep in touch!

and hopefully I will update my blog soon so you can see some pictures!

Here we go again!!

So, we are interviewing for residency. Let the fun begin. Trent has three interviews for Radiology next month. Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Penn State, and Univ of North Carolina. We are hoping for a couple more and should know within a few weeks. Scary and exciting. For now, we are still in North Dakota but not frozen yet.

Amen Sistah

I'm all for some updating! As a comment on Shelly's comment: Whoa girl. That's rough. No playgroup or anything? I would die! Maybe they've just been waiting for you to come and start it all up! Other than the ward, what's Sioux Falls like? Cold probably eh? How long are you guys there for?

We are doing pretty good. Its been a crazy year. Just lots of ups and downs and craziness. We're moving in like 6 weeks! On Thursday we'll fly to Washington to find a house. My brother and his wife are coming to watch the kids. Should be interesting! This will be the first time we've left them with anyone other than my mom. But... three days with James, I cannot WAIT! We both really need this time away. He's been away on the ship a lot. When he's not, he's gone from 4:30 in the morning until 5 or 6, but can't stay awake long enough to hang out after the kids go to bed. The worst part is that he is bored out of his mind on the boat. There just hasn't been that much for him to do, but he can't leave. Things should be quite different in Washington, he may even have time to moonlight a little.

I for sure am going to miss Oceanside. Its been awesome. I'll miss the sunshine and all there is to do, but I'll miss my friends most of all. I am looking forward to not having so many "extra-curricular" things for a while. We took Charlie and Annie out of Karate and dance and Dillon only has Scouts and Piano now. I'm really trying to simplify our lives. I will not get suckered into PTO again.... at least not until I feel up to it but boy am I ever going to enjoy having my kids in a decent school system! I hope I can have a break from a stressful calling for a little while. I may finally get to spend some time organizing my thoughts, my stuff, our memories, you know.... stuff I used to do. I haven't scrapbooked in almost 2 years! I so want to update my website and feel like my business is in good working order again. I also want to get back into my good eating & exercising routine. I'm feeling really selfish tonight - can you tell? ;)

I really have missed girl's nights. I hope everyone is on board for girl's weekend next year! Should we still aim for Hawaii, or would more people be able to come if we did it in Salt Lake again? The most important thing is we get as many people there as would like to be there, you know? Its always such a renewing experience.

Well, that's my novel-of-an-update for ya. What's everyone else up to? Rachel your baby (Annalee who shares a birthday with my Annie!) is scrum-diddly-umptious!! Congratulations!!

What's new?

I have just been thinking about you all and wondering how life is going, now that several of us are done with residency. Where is everyone and how is life going? Time for some updates!

Megan

GIRLS WEEKEND 2010 - it was amazing!

GIRLS WEEKEND 2010!

There was a measly group of just the four us this year, but we managed to somehow still have WAY TOO MUCH FUN! ;0)

We spent the first day at the mall- seriously. Like the entire afternoon and half the evening. It was so fun to shop without kids hanging on us and time limitations. We were in H&M for almost 2 hours! We have $1 sparkly sandals, "little black dresses," $1 sunglasses, maternity pants galore, and more than a few "back-to-school" items to show for our "spree."

The next day we headed up to the day spa and soaked, swam, mud-bathed, "wafa-ed," ate, and just plain enjoyed everything there was to offer there - especially the good conversation. Jill has all the good photos (water & mud-proof camera). After our relaxation destination, we ate dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and saw "Charlie St. Cloud." Pretty good movie if you like Zac Efron.... which we all decidedly DO! Yowza! (husbands aren't allowed to read this.... in case you didn't know ;0) )

Saturday was super fun. We hit the beach,



Can you spell "R and R?"



then more shopping (a GW tradition to bring a "little" something home for the hubby)





Also in keeping with Girls' weekend tradition, we did a little KARAOKE and treats that include the words, "Chubby hubby, paradise coconut, and brownie batter...." just to give you an idea.

The last night, we stayed up until 5:30 AM! ITS A NEW GIRLS WEEKEND RECORD!! ((applause)) Despite the late night, I feel so rejuvinated. I feel so lucky to have such great friendships. In just a few words, the weekend was:

Inspiring
Relaxing
Hilarious
Spiritual
Uplifting
Just what I needed

Thoughts on next year:

We had discussed planning girls weekend in Hawaii next year, but after some further consideration and discussion, we think the most important thing is for us to make it easier for as many people to come as possible. So, what do you all say to Salt Lake City again? Would that be easier and more affordable? We want to still visit Megan in HI, but maybe try for a couples thing in the fall or something... I don't know.

PLEASE ADD ANY INPUT!! WE WANT YOU TO COME!!

Packing a School Lunch

Jade is starting kindergarten next week. It is all day so I will need to pack a lunch for her. Seeing as I am completely new to having a school-age kid I am asking for help. I would love your advice on school lunch, what to pack, what works, what doesn't, and what you absolutly swear by. I would love any thoughts or advice you can give me.

P.S. I hope the girl's trip was awesome.

ONE MORE WEEK!

I can hardly believe it but its true! Girl's weekend begins one week from tomorrow! Can't wait to party ladies. Sounds like Kami has some super fun stuff planned. I plan on thoroughly soaking up all the girl-talk and laughs that I can hold! To get me by until next year, of course :) Its not too late to come if anyone is still considering it. There's plenty of room for more!

See you gals soon!

Hey Girls :)

I just wanted to say hi and congrats to all those who graduated! Can you believe they are really done... I am loving it! And those of you who still have some time left, hang in there! you can do it!!!

We are all moved & living in Gunnison UT. Doesn't feel real yet, but maybe once Adam starts work and we get a routine going it will feel like home. We had a great time in Cozumel even though I am big and pregnant. Eventually I will get around to posting about it on my blog. Adam is home for almost 3 more weeks and it's been great.

I hope everyone is doing well with their moves, babies etc. Just wanted to say hi!

I would love to know what everyone is up to :)

love, Rachel

Graduation Gifts

Hi girls--
For those of you with husbands finishing this month, what are your ideas for residency graduation gifts? I'm stumped and I need ideas!

Miracles

You all know how we listed our house for sale a few weeks back?  Well, we had been preparing the house for a couple of months and all of the realtors that we interviewed said that it was very difficult to sell a home right now and we were looking at going about 15 to 20,000 in the hole on the house.  We were also told that it was going to be nearly impossible to sell the house FSBO.  Well, we felt good about listing it ourselves and we felt good about the price we listed it for.  We had been praying over the last couple of months that the Lord would be preparing a family to buy our home from us and that we would be able to sell the home without going backwards in the loan and that we would be able to sell it quickly.  We put the house up for sale at 5:00 p.m. on a friday night, got a call saturday morning and they wanted to see the home on sunday.  We told them that we didn't show on sundays but we would be happy to show the house on monday.  On sunday we fasted that we would be able to sell the home.  On monday the family came and walked through the house and said that they would let us know one way or another.  They left the house and walked out to their car.  They rang the doorbell a few seconds later and said that they didn't need to think about it any longer.  They knew that they wanted to buy the house.  They said that they were pre-approved for about $5,000 less then asking price but they were willing to offer more if we needed it.  We negotiated for $2,000 less than asking price (which still covers our full morgage) and they signed the papers and gave us a deposit.  It was so mind boggling smooth that it is impossible to contribute it to any other factor than the Lord.  We are just humbled and dumbfounded at His mercy and hand in our lives.  Not only does He answer prayers, but he always blows me away when He does.  Austin and I dropped to our knees in gratitude which seemed not nearly good enough.  We wanted to scream it from the housetops!  Anyway, I had to share with you all what an amazing experience it was.  Words can't quite express how I feel but I am so thankful for the gospel that teaches us to pray and fast and trust in the Lord and to rely on Him.  Where would I be without Him?

GIRLS WEEKEND 2010!!!!

We finally decided on a date for Girls Weekend. We are going to do it July 30-Aug. 1. We will be doing it here in Oceanside. Jenny has graciously volunteered her house. (Thanks so much Jenny! What would we ever do without Jenny). Anyways, we want to start on Friday morning, so you are all welcome to come Thursday night so we will be ready to go on Friday. I am super excited for this weekend. I think it will be a blast. We will start figuring out what we will be doing soon. If any of you have any request just let me know. This will come fast! Loves

We know where we are going!

Finally! We know where we are headed. We are headed to a little paradise called Mountain Home Idaho! Just kidding about the little paradise part, but at least it is close to home! We just found out. We turned in our wishlist in December with Mt. Home no where near the list but in Feb the Assignments officer emailed with a list of 11 bases that no one signed up for. Of those 11 Mt. Home was the best choice for us. There were enough spots that weren't signed up for it made us pretty worried that we would get sent to one of these bases that we REALLY didn't want. So we called the assignments officer and told him we would be willing to add MT. Home to our list. The Sweet thing is that choosing Mt. Home means that the odds of Austin getting deployed are very small. We may go through our whole payback without Austin ever being deployed. That would be awesome. Anyway, for those that don't know, MT. Home is 45 min east of boise and 5 hours from Provo. It's a very small town but I don't think I am going to mind all that much. It is close to the sand dunes so we are going to get some 4-wheelers and go crazy. We will make it fun!

Girl's Weekend 2010 date poll

We desperately need to finalize the date for girl's weekend so PLEASE vote for either the first or second weekend in August in the poll on the right side of the blog. You are excused from voting ONLY if you know for sure that no matter which weekend it is you can't come.

This will help Kami get an idea of where we could stay and what we can plan to do for fun! I've noticed Southwest has some pretty good deals on flights right now too... so we need to decide before they vanish! :)

PS - if you haven't seen Karie's new baby, please read the previous post - she's adorable!

Savanna Marie Shelton

If you haven't caught my blog, we welcomed Savanna Marie to our family on March 19th. She is just over two weeks and doing well (besides sleeping all day and then waking up as soon as the lights go out....any suggestions for that?). Details on our blog but maternity leave is over...ha ha...and it's back to work. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and congratulations Rachel M...I didn't know you were expecting.

Any final verdict for girl's weekend?

Typical Kid on Camera

So I have these videos of my kids. They make me laugh. The first one is so typical of a kid on camera. They are like a deer in the headlight. As soon as the camera goes on they shut down. The second on is you try and video one of your kids doing something cute and the other ones have to steal the limelight. Enjoy.

Megan?

Megan,
I am looking for information on Autism, and I knew that you've dealt with it, and wondered if you'd give me a call or email sometime. Katiemaam at hotmail dot com or 734 565 9781
Katie
PS if anyone else has her info, can you send it on?

Rachel's 28th Birthday

Ok now that it's almost feb I better hurry up and post my bithday stuff :)

It was on Jan 8th!

It seems like life has been busy although I can't pin point exactly why. So sorry I am late.

I had a really nice 28th birthday. I started my day with my aerobics class and that felt good. Then I made myself an egg mc muffin for breakfast :) so good!

Adam had to work but made the best of it. He came home for lunch with some beautiful roses :) We ordered my favorite pizza for dinner Canadian bacon and pineapple...mmmmmm!

Then the next day Adam and Kyler slaved over making my favorite bday cake carrot cake from scratch with lemon cream cheese frosting, it is divine!

I look forward to it every year :)

I got a sentsy warmer for my bday and have been loving trying out new smells. (they sell them at the cell phone store :) haha

anyway nothing fancy, but a great birthday and i felt very loved!

I can't think of what else I am supposed to write for my bday post. I have enjoyed my step aerobic class and yoga class. Especially the yoga class.. ahhhh... makes my body happy!

I have been learning to knit (the grandma way, you know with needles) and that has been fun. I am pretty impatient learning new things that take time... I want to be a expert right a way and try all the hard patterns and usually get frustrated and give up... so i am trying to be patient :)

I am always enjoying a good book... and looking for new recipes to try out.

My sister in law has taught me how to make some pretty sweet earrings, and that can be pretty addicting! I am excited to be done with residency although I will miss the people here.

Maybe this is weird but I am nervous to move to utah.. maybe those of you who grew up outside of utah will understand. I am just nervous about the "culture" of utah and the homogeneous environment. I just grew up with, what I felt like was a lot of diversity and liked it... so we'll see. I am sure it will be fine. I will enjoy living a half hour from a temple and seeing family more. Change is difficult but good... maybe it's good because it's difficult :)

Also sorry I haven't replied about Girl's weekend. I don't have a strong opinion as to where. I will be living close to Adam's parents so it wont be hard to get most places. I think it would be nice to do it another part of the country for those who haven't been able to attend yet.

I think if we did it in Utah/Idaho we should do a family get together. I know my husband would love to see his buddies too. I mean I would be up for doing both... but I know that is hard for some. I definitely want to have girls weekend. In addition I would like to plan a reunion where the families could get together or at least the couples.

As far as our summer plans so far we are graduating June 25th and then moving the following weekend. Then we have a family reunion Aug 7th 8th if I remember right.

anyway that's my input. Miss you all and hope all is well with you and your families!

Birthday post... a little late ;0)

I can't believe I have been so bad at posting these! Especially after "requiring" you guys to do it! What a hypocrite!

Well... Last month I turned 30! Holy Cow it feels totally ... . . . . . . .... totally . .. ..... . . . . . the same. :) I feel great, though. I'm not scared of my 30's. Not for a few years anyway! lol

So, my birthday was awesome. James really went out of his way to make me feel special, and I did! Kami took me out too and we had a great time shopping and playing with Kali- who always steals the show! My mom came down and pampered me a little too. It was awesome.

This photo was taken on my birthday. The girl on the left is my friend Millie.


So, I have some great news! I actually kept 3 out of the 4 new year's resolutions I made last year! I feel like this year I kind of have a head start! SUCH a great feeling. 2009 was a year of several personal challenges and triumphs. I started my own Bow business/ website, lost some weight, and most importantly, grew closer to my Heavenly Father. I have one main goal for 2010... don't take ANYTHING for granted. Its our last year in CA, our last year living close to my mom, close to Kami and I just feel like my life, my kids- everything is speeding by too quickly. I hope to cherish all the good moments of every day.

Our big news is that James has been assigned duty as a doctor on the USS Nimitz- an aircraft carrier out of....... SAN DIEGO!


Well, I should say, it will be in SD for a while. The Nimitz is scheduled for a 12-18 month dry dock period beginning in 2011. It will dock in Bremerton Washington and we'll go with it! We are looking forward to that exciting new experience! Washington state has always attracted me in lots of ways. I'm excited to see if it'll meet my expecatations. ;-)

I wanted to talk a little about the next girl's weekend. As we left the last one, there didn't seem to be a real concensus of what to do about this next one. Its going to be a Summer of transition for many of us who are starting new jobs or military positions. I think I would just like some feedback on what to do. Does someone just want to volunteer to plan and organize it? Kami has said she would do it here in SD again, if people were interested. I haven't asked him, but I think my dad would be willing to let us use his house in SLC again. Does anyone else have an opinion? It would be nice for whoever does take this on to have time to put into planning. Does everyone now know where they'll be next July? Do we still want to do it in July?

PLEASE, if you read this, post your opinion. It helps to know where everyone stands. We want as many people to come as can! Its too fun to miss out on! :)

BY THE WAY! Thanks to AMY for the cool T-shirts! I'm going to post a picture of mine soon.

~Jenny

So Much Good News!!

I am so jealous of everyone. Congrats Joni and Megan. I am 10 weeks away (from delivery of my baby girl) and it seems like an eternity. Megan...Heck yeah...girl's weekend with you next year. You will love it. There is a lot you can do through BYU-H there too. Have fun. Anyway, I got home and got all your Christmas cards. I am such a slacker but I just posted a huge blog on the family blog, so if you care, take a peek and that's the best I can do for now. I am frantically studying to retake my boards in a month so free time is limited. Anyway, well, Have a Happy New Year!!!