Ski trip

Dani gave me a ski trip for Christmas this year!  While she felt a little underwhelmed because it's not the first time it has been given as a gift, I was super pumped!

I flew in and spent the night with Sid and met little baby Scarlett.  We stayed up way too late talking and laughing, and the next morning Sid dropped me off at the hotel where I went skiing with Taylor and Andrew.  I don't have any pictures of that ski trip other than the injury pictures.  There wasn't very much snow on the mountain, and while we were skiing through some trees, I lost a ski, which caused me to slide down the hillside and run over a submerged tree trunk with my knee and hip.  I got a major bruise (the doctor later told me I bruised a nerve and bone) and swollen knee.  Fortunately, I was able to ski the rest of the day, though I probably shouldn't have and I did take it easy.

 

I decided I probably couldn't ski the next day... until the next day, and I decided to ski at Sundance with Sid.  We ended up having a great ski day - and then we played racquetball afterwards!

My parents were in town for a comedy show Andrew was performing at, and Andrew's family and extended family came out in full force.  Andrew was hilarious, and the whole show was quite funny.  Add in a basketball game and a cousin's trip to Cafe Rio, and a trip to a new French Fry place that the Craft family's son in law opened, and it was a super full weekend!  Thanks again for a great Christmas present!!!

Beacon Rock

We had a beautiful January weekend day, so we decided to take the kids and go for a hike.  Jared had recently hiked Beacon Rock, a large rock prominent on the Washington side of the Columbia River, and thought that the entire family could handle it, so we went for it!

Shortly after the trail starts, there is a long series of switchbacks scaling to the top of the rock.  The game with the 3-year-olds was to 'SWITCH' each turn-around so they were on the uphill side of the trail.

At every turnaround, there was a 'view' or a 'mountain.'  We took a lot of stops to admire the view

 

The views were, indeed, spectacular!

Torin loved hiking!  He took a short nap, but maily was content to look around and talk quietly.

The top of the rock soars over 850 feet above the Columbia River and gave great views up the gorge.  With the blue skies and warm weather, it was such a wonderful hike!

 

Precoa above Timberline

For the January sales meeting, one activity was to go to the Silcox Hut for a meeting.  Silcox Hut is above Timberline Lodge.  We went up on a Snow Cat and arrived in time to watch a spectacular sunrise!

The day was perfectly clear, so there was a great view of the top of Mt. Hood, which looked a lot closer than it really is!

The hut is pretty rustic, but the breakfast, and the meeting rooms were perfect!

11th anniversary

We celebrated our 11th anniversary this week!  The 11th year was an amazing year, and one that we will never forget with the birth of Torin, our family's first big Spring Break trip, the Walters Family Reunion, and a closeness and love that we are grateful daily for.

The 11th anniversary is officially the 'fashion jewelry' anniversary, but Nothing Bundt Cakes and flowers seemed a better way to celebrate!

 

We celebrated with a night out, and Jared's date was particularly gorgeous!!!

After a delicious dinner at the Portland City Grill, we stayed at the Benson Hotel in Portland.  One of Jared's co-workers, Shelley, hooked us up with a most amazing room - the Presidential Suite -  chocolate-dipped strawberries, and rose petals.  It was an amazing room - and it was so nice to get an uninterrupted night's sleep!

1st day of preschool

We sent Kate and Liam off to Valley Christian preschool this morning.  They were both very excited - Kate had been hoping Liam would be potty trained so they could go to school.  He was ... mostly.  They are in different classes and seem to not even notice each other at school!  Dani enjoyed the few hours of being back with just 1 child at home.

Dani posted the picture below, taken outside of the preschool, on Instagram.  Amber commented, "I see Liam is wearing pants," and Scott McKnight commented, "Was Kate a good teacher?"  Both very appropriate comments!

Happy 2015!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Jacob made a little 2015 celebration out of Legos

Meanwhile, Liam showed just how late we stayed up the night before.

It's going to be a great year!

Finishing 2014 with a bang!

We decided to have our friends the Caspers and Plotkins over for a year-end party, and we had a great time!  One of the first things we did was to do a few "Minute to Win It" games, which were pretty entertaining.  The first was to start with a Vanilla Wafer on your forehead...

then to work it down your face and eventually eat it!

Most people were successful - the 3-year-olds used their hands, and I call that a success!

The next game was a team cup stacking game.  The kids played a few times, and then the husbands and wives played against each other - the wives emerged victorious!

We next stuck ping pong balls in stockings and put those on the kids heads and had them knock over water bottles.  It was pretty funny to watch!

After Minute to Win It games (and feeding the kids something), we sent them upstairs to watch a movie.  Jason wanted to join, but eventually was wooed backstairs for delicious fondue!

We barely noticed it was midnight right at midnight, called the kids downstairs, and had a little celebration.  Even Torin got to celebrate the start of 2015 with us!

2014 was an amazing and eventful year - Here's to an even better 2015!

2014 quotes

Claire
"When I am 18 or older."
- 1/1, as an answer to the question, "Claire, when will you have your first boyfriend?"  Needless to say, both mom and dad were pleased with that answer!

"What?"
- February through April... Claire has been going through a phase where she isn't able to hear as well as normal.

"Do you forget things because you're pregnant?"
- 4/12 to Dani.  Careful kid...

"So there will be more Jensens and because boys are more likely to like Star Wars"
- the reasons Claire wants the baby to be a boy

"I'm just trying to be a wookie when I do that."
- Claire's explanation on why she groans sometimes (not that she's upset).

"Mommy, you don't look like you're even pregnant anymore!  Or it's just a little tiny baby"
- August, when Torin was 2.5 months old.

"She doesn't have nibbles because she's not married yet"
- December, referring to a character in a movie.

Jacob
"The Scout"
- Referring to himself in April, after he turned 8.

"Nana, you know, you could feed the baby."
- 6/9.  Ideas of how else Nana could help with a newborn.

"Montrol"
- the drive to Cody when Jacob couldn't remember the word "Montana"

Kate
"What is Santa going to bring me for Christmas?"
- Starting within a few days after Christmas and continuing for months, every time one of the parents lays next to Kate at naptime or bedtime, Kate is sure to ask what Santa is going to bring her for Christmas.

"Mommy, you're my best buddy."
- 1/6 after family prayers.

"Curious George is so handsome.  Just like Daddy"
- 2/5 to Dani.

Kate: "I am so, so, so, so happy!!!!"
Jared: "Why?"
Kate: "Because I LOVE my mommy!!!"
- 2/27 while Jared was laying with Kate before bed while Dani was in New York City.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!?!?!"
- all the time, especially when in the car when Dani or Jared are trying to have a conversation with one of the other kids or with one another.

"I have a boogy!"
- all the time (April and May).  Any time even a threat of a runny nose creeps up, Kate needs a tissue, so in April and May when a persistent little cold left Kate with a bit of a runny nose, we heard this phrase a lot.  And went through a lot of tissues (whether or not we could see any evidence!)

"I need to go potty!"
- all the time (April and May).  Kate decided to take potty training to a whole new level, going potty seemingly every 10 minutes.  Fortunately, while we are out, she holds it, but something about the proximity and availability of a convenient potty makes her think she has to go.

"Spiders have two legs and one nose and a long long back and we don't touch them, okay?!?"
- 5/22 - random pearls of wisdom

"My tummy is feeling kind of drivey again, mom."
- 5/30 - feeling a bit car sick a few days after she and Liam's car seats were moved to the back of the Yukon.

"Tomorrow after naps, you can have a baby girl."
- 6/6 - about 36 hours after Torin was born.  Because babies come 2 at a time in the Jensen household.

"It looks like a granola bar, but it's not a granola bar."
- 10/18.  Kate's assessment of the contents of the potty.

"I'M NOT SLEEPY!!!"
- Nov-Dec.  What Kate says when she goes to bed, after she's been "laying" in bed for over an hour, in the middle of the night when she wakes up, and when she wakes up too early in the morning.

Liam
"My monster"
- Liam's name for Chewbacca

Liam: "Mama, did you burp?"
Dani: "No, it was a toot."
Liam: "You better potty mama.  You better go to the bathroom so you don't go poopoo in the chair."
- 1/9 to Dani

"Radio Have-to, Radio Have-to.  WOooah-Oh, WOooah-Oh"
- Liam singing along to Radioactive, relatively in tune.  April and May

"YES!!!!!" or "YES, I love this one!!!"
- Liam's reaction to various things: songs he likes, or if he is able to scamper back to bed before mom or dad gets there to pick him up and put him in the crib, if you give him an unexpected treat, etc.

"I want to watch the minions because minions say BOT-TOM"
- 6/3 - while sick, Liam wanted to choose Despicable Me as a show to watch for this reason.

"D.I.N.G.O. and Dingo was his name-o!"
- 7/1 - Liam's version of the Bingo song

"When I was a ..., I used to ..."
- "mommy," "fireman,"

"My darling" and "my sweetie"
- July - Liam's pet names for Dani

"All of ... "
- Liam's way of saying 'lots of.'  For example, "I am going to push all of buttons"

"No, IN the potty, not ON the potty"
- Liam's response to the parents' cheers celebrating his potty training

"I don't like girls"
- started in November... not sure when it will end.

Kate and Liam
"Lemolade"

"The potty train"
- as in "Liam, when you get on the potty train, we can go to preschool!"

Holiday Activities

One of the best parts of the Christmas season is when Jared takes a few days off and we can do some fun activities.  Since the Caspers were staying with us, we figured we'd do a few fun activities!

Jared took the kids bowling - just Jared and 6 kids!  The big kids, Jacob, Claire nad Trey, bowled on their own lane and had a great time.  Liam and Duffy used a lot of body language with his rolls while Kate just wanted to suck her thumb.

 

Jared somehow scored his highest eve, including his first Turkey!!!

Nana sent a fun activity, making chocolate pretzel trees.  The kids were all excited and very involved in their trees.  They were proud of the results!

For Family Home Evening, we played 6 on a couch.  Or so it seemed!

We took a trip to OMSI with Trey.  After playing in the ball room for a while, we built earthquake-proof structures out of Legos and other materials.

 

We also built a pyramid - which lasted just long enough for us to snap a picture before Kate pushed it down!  It was pretty funny to watch the kids reactions when it fell.

We got the kids in front of the green screen and took pictures of floating heads.

Torin had a great time at OMSI too!

Dani even found a few minutes to play the guitar!