Family Picture

so it kinda looks like brayden and i are an item and ryan looks so confused. but i love it and we don't get too many pictures with this many people! i wish jeff and hayley were here but they will be soon! YAY for moving back! YAY for thousands of prayers being answered!

note: jaelyn's cute prego belly!

returning with honor

brayden came home from the raleigh north carolina mission on june 3rd.

brayden left may of 2007. i knew him and hung out with a few times but while he was gone:

ryan and i got married (we actually got engaged less than 3 weeks after he left since he was still in the MTC!)

jaelyn and craig got married

jaelyn and craig got pregnant

he pretty much missed a ton of kyle's milestones!

it was hard to have him gone for all of that, but we were so blessed and he was too!

brayden makes us want to be better missionaries. he makes us want to try a little harder to do a little better. he is a great example to us! he served as an AP for like 18 months or something ridiculous like that! he was perfectly obedient and the most faithful writer ever!

the jensen boys (not pictured: jeff) 

we had so much fun at the airport. we did rehearsal pictures to show our excitement. we made friends with the other 33 families waiting for their missionaries! 

seriously, the salt lake airport on missionary coming home day is my favorite!

our pride and joy banner. a direct quote from a bishop in a ward brayden served in! oh we love those folks!

WELCOME HOME BRANDON!

Turkey Hunt 2009

this post is strictly for posterity.

while jeff was in town, ryan took every opportunity to get out turkey hunting. we would spend our evenings road hunting up in the mountains. ryan only had one week left to get his turkey so his determination was a bit excessive! :)

We left one tuesday night and headed up old trappers loop, i think, it was up by snow basin. jeff and i were merely moral support and the get away drives and ryan sported the full cammo. we would drive a while call. drive awhile call. drive awhile call. drive awhile call. AND THEN...drive awhile call. A TOM CALLED BACK! oh my goodness I think we were the most excited people ever at that moment. high fiving as absolutely quiet as we could! we (ryan and jeff) figured out where it was coming from, ryan grabbed his gun and was gone. after jeff and i had drove around and waited patiently we parked at a good look at spot. ryan had just then texted to say the turkey had flown away (sad) a turkey flew right past us and landed in a tree just down the hill. i told ryan that. he said it was the same turkey. we directed him to if from the truck. bang. turkey dead. 20 minutes later we are home. oh how i love road hunting. 

this picture was taken the next trip so kyle could get his turkey, which he did. much cooler story but i don't remember his. lame i know.

this is one of those pictures i will treasure and look forward to putting together the next family slideshow!

ryan with his turkey. he might mount the fan. or do something with the tail.

we ate the turkey. i don't like turkey in general. but i tasted it. and it tasted better than the turkey i taste at thanksgiving, weird cuz i HATE everything he hunts!

dead turkey. (wonderful captions, i know)

disclaimer: my husband does NOT road hunt. he does not believe in. support or encourage it. however, he had two days left to get a turkey. everyone told us this is how they were doing it and the poor boy had hiked over ten miles in the mountains trying to get one his way. congratulations ryan! i love you 

Memorial Day

fyi: if Jamie Horspool says she knows a really fun place to go spend the day...

she is lying and wants you to suffer! 

just kidding...kinda!

so us Jensens were struggling with where to spend Memorial Day.

I suggested Locomotive Springs, because Jamie had said it was so fun for fishing and hanging out. 

So after much debating my suggestion won (it often does with the Jensens)

First off it is clear out in the west desert which I love.

Clear past ATK/Thiokol. (which we stopped to look at, I have never been there so cool, probably less cool for Kevin since he goes there everyday but he is a good sport!)

So we get there (oh and we were in the van. With no AC. The van was full. Very uncomfortable.) And find a "spring" with no people so we set up our day camp there. The boys begin to fish catching fish about 2 inches big...really...we eat lunch and just hang out as we see this...

forming around us. It's actually the entire front of the storm it was so neat to see. Although a storm coming was not very neat. We could see some old abandoned structures, and since the fishing wasn't riveting we headed off to explore.

This is the abandoned train car. Don't you love the candid pictures that capture personalities. This is one of those perfectly.

This is the abandoned house. It was very neat. Minus the giant rat (some people referred to it as a field mouse, but to me it will always be a giant rat) We had some dating arguments for the structures. Some people believed that this was like pioneer structures. But the oven and the wiring hanging out from the walls led others to believe it was much more recent. But it makes it more interesting to think it is a pioneer structure!

We also thought this little building was abandoned. That was until the giant bird flew out of the roof and hit me...not cool. and very scary!

This wasn't the picture I wanted to post, and I am still not good at this. But we took some "welcome to your first home" shots, oh so not funny! 

So we stopped getting pictures shortly after this, when the pre-pictured storm arrived and we had flash flooding and the sand turned to the slippery slide as we raced back to covering in the middle of the desert so we wouldn't be struck by lighting!

It was a pretty crazy day but we had fun! And if you go, be sure to wear LOTS of bug spray, and a hat.

This picture makes me laugh everytime! it reminds me of the seminary video where he doesn't pump the well! its perfect huh!