2018 quotes

Jacob
"Thum"
- them. not sure why, but this word drives Jared nuts!

Torin
"Aragog"
- Spider. Live ones, decorations, drawings. Every spider is Aragog.

Getting the house ready to put on the market

It is a bittersweet time as Christmas decorations came down early this year as we begin the process of getting the house ready to put on the market.

Perhaps even more bittersweet was the all-too-symbolic mending of the fence that had been open with the Bowles yard for years. It was truly sad to put up the vinyl slats that had been laying to the side of the hole in the fence, knowing that it meant that we would soon be moving across the country.

After a lot of work and cleaning, the house looked great - all ready for pictures and showings.

There are so many memories in each of these rooms.

We are proud of the home that we built and the years that we spent in Oregon.

 

A break from work

Christmas break is nice time to take some time as a family to do a few different things. We decided to take the kids climbing at the Circuit in Tigard. The kids did great! They were challenged and tried a lot of different routes.

Christmas - and Dani's 36th Birthday

It was a very merry Christmas morning in the Jensen home.

Liam was thrilled to have fishy 2.0!

Kaci sent indoor snowballs... with a note that said "sorry!" The kids did Legos and built things and the birthday girl got a nice nap.

As usual, we topped the day off with a 36th birthday celebration! And a Claire photo bomb

 

When you really don't want to join the pajamas picture

 

Jenaffer Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve with our Framily! 

Torin and Kate playing Mary and Joseph

Karen and Don were spending Christmas with Jim and Mel and got to be part of the fun.

All of the adults got a big kick out of the nativity

The 3 Wise Men - complete with their own theme song!

The kids table - they're all getting so big! And next year the Schaffers will have 1 more!

We are so glad we got to be together this holiday season! 

Christmastime Events

The last Precoa Christmas party - Dani looking stunning!!! The event was held near downtown Portland. It started with a comic who took a few minutes to get on track, but eventually learned his crowd and got some good lines. But seriously... Dani is gorgeous!

Claire's violin recital.

It is a little bit sad that this is our last year going to visit Santa at Sleighbells. We have been there so many years and have so many pictures as our kids get older.

We love the decor of our home in Portland with our fun nativity sets.

The white fireplace looks so good and festive.

And we especially love the Christmas tree. Every year when we are getting ornaments out, we are reminded of trips we have taken, phases of life, or friends who gave us meaningful ornaments. We still love spinning the ornaments each year, especially Jared.

After Jared accepted the job offer in the Great American Crop division, Jared and Dani celebrated with a fancy steak dinner.

The kids got to visit Santa at the ward Christmas party

Jared had to have a turn too!

The primary does a cute nativity the Sunday before Christmas. We have been blessed to have all our kids spend so many years with the wonderful people in the Stafford Ward.

The Christmas setup:

Our family's last Portland Christmas

We always love our Christmas tree!

 

The final Christmas performance at Valley Christian. Last time singing "Super Duper Christmas!!!"

"Once there was a poop emoji. She dreamed of sailing to New York to see America"

 

Last day at Precoa

Jared felt some tender feelings today as he packed up and left the Precoa office for the last time.

When I started at Precoa, it wasn't even named Precoa - it was named "Lincoln Heritage Funeral Planning." We weren't at the location in Tigard, across the from the temple, but instead we were in an older office on Barbur Blvd, where we called it the 'red light district' because of all of the 'adult entertainment' establishments in the area. There were only about 50 employees in the company.

Over the years I was with Precoa, we made major changes, moving our business to NGL, changing the name of the company, more online presence and marketing, expanding territory, and so many other changes.

I appreciate the lifelong friendships that were formed. I got to travel to different countries on the incentive travel trips and be part of company meetings that challenged us to each individually be better, not just as employee but as an individual in all aspects of my life.

I will miss the people and will carry with me the time and relationships that were made over this time.

Moving to Cincinnati

Break out the Reds Gear - we have officially told our kids we are moving to Cincinnati.

We had them open a box that has the Great American tower and told them that Jared had accepted a job to work in the Tower the Papa built, working with Great American Insurance.

Everyone went to find their Cincinnati Reds gear, and we enjoyed some Skyline Chili.

 

Our kids did pretty well with the news. Kate, as she often does, was talkative about all the positives - she really wants to feel the happy side of moving. Later, she had some tears as she processed moving away from her friends in Oregon. Jacob felt pretty sad too. He has a really strong group of friends.

It is a bittersweet feeling for all of us. Oregon is all our kids really remember. We have built strong friendships, and we will cherish those forever.

But we are excited to move to Cincinnati to be closer to Nana and Papa. It will be fun that each time someone comes to visit, we get to be a part of it. We have felt strongly that now is the time, and we are excited to follow that prompting.