california here we come right back where we started from...

We took a little trip to California over Memorial Day for a few reasons..
1. To see my brother graduate from Stan State
2. To paint my Dad's house
3. Celebrate my niece's first birthday
4. We hadn't been on a vacation in awhile and NEEDED one (although it never feels like a really vacation to go home...)
5. To pick up our NEW (to us) TRUCK & BOAT!!!! (thanks Dad!!)

Wesson's newest facial expression: The Scary Face

Mommy & Daddy don't have any cool toys. We only brought lame books and such but this sweet lady was more than willing you entertain him with her fancy-schpancy Ipad thingy!

It was SO much colder than I ever remember SF being! But it was so fun to take Wesson all around, he was FASCINATED but everything and everyone there! Mostly the sea lions. He still asks "can we see Oma's (that is my mom) sea lions today?" evidently she owns everything in California...

Our family in front of the "BIG BIG BRIDGE" still FREEZING but I love this picture, so worth it!

Are cousins not the cutest thing in the world?? These two could not decide if they like each other or not?? We'll have to get them together more often!

I love my grandparents! Hands down they are the greatest grandparents. And Wesson LOVES them! He still talks about his Mimi and Poppy (all the other great grandkids call him Pappi haha) you can't tell in this picture he is laughing hysterically.  I can get the video to load! err! But I love every picture of Wesson with them! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for being the greatest examples to me of EVERYTHING! loving, service, non-judgmental, patient, forgiving...I could go on forever! And aren't they SO dang cute?!

So throw in getting to see the cutest grandparents in the world, a day in San Francisco, dinner with my cutest high school friend and HER BABY! (WHY DID WE NOT TAKE PICTURES EMILY?!!) Some good old fashion quality family time. It just happened to be a fabulous trip! 


...


I guess we'll be back! 

If it smells like a rat...

I feel like I have told this story 3 TRILLION times. But the blog is for posterity right? And it really is WORTH repeating! So if you have heard it already you can just keep hanging out on Facebook or get back to Pinterest I guess! :)


Last Wednesday night Wesson and I were outside in the front yard. We have an island in our yard with trees, bushes and flowers. We have planted everything but the bushes so they are quite large. Wesson was busy playing "garbage trucks" (he is seriously obsessed with garbage trucks...but i guess that is better than like Winnie the Pooh right?) I decided I would weed the island, I was just going about my own business, I lifted the leaves of the bush to weed underneath it and out of the corner of my eye something kinda fell out of the bush. I look over and see...

As you can imagine I  SCREAM. And not like a quiet gentle scream, like BLOODY MURDER. Like I was being stabbed! And no one came running to rescue me?? COME ON NEIGHBORS!! I leap over the bush. I grab Wesson. We fall to the ground. I am screaming. He is crying. This was traumatic for everyone. I call Ryan. It goes something like this:


Ryan: Hi baby
Jess: A RAT A RAT A RAT!!!!!!!!
Ryan: What?
Jess: AT OUR HOUSE! A RAT!!!!
Ryan: I can't understand you
Jess: A WHITE RAT WITH RED EYES STARRING AT ME!!! I AM SELLING THE HOUSE!!!!
Ryan: That is just someones pet, put up a sign that you found it! 
Jess: I THINK IT IS DEAD, IT WAS LOOKING AT ME!!!!
Ryan: Then put it in the trash can...
Jess: YEAH, I AM GOING TO TOUCH IT. GOOD BYE!


So I proceed to call EVERY man I know. Jeff, my next-of-kin. My father in law. My neighbor. My friends. With no luck. FINALLY...my AMAZING neighbor Carrie comes home. She tells me, get me some paper towels and I'll throw it away. (AH-MAZING right??) She throws it in our garbage. I love her. Ryan comes home that night and CAN YOU BELIEVE has the nerve to get upset because we just threw it in the trash and then it will decompose and stink up the trash can, we need to put it in a bag or something...blah blah blah. I was NEVER going to look at that rat again so I told him he was on his own. Our week got really busy and he didn't think of it again. I on the other hand told EVERYONE I saw from that day on about my encounter with Satan's pet rat! On Saturday morning we were both home and I asked Ryan if he had put it in a bag, he said he hadn't and he would go do that now while I was inside getting Wesson ready for the day. Moments later Ryan comes in laughing this evil laugh...(you know the one...) he says, "I want to start by saying I love you, but you are a RETARD"...






THAT RAT IS FAKE.




And it was.

oops. everyone gets one good rubber rat story right?

Food for thought...

I have never "food blogged".

But sometimes you find recipes other people might not try or might not see, and you have to share them right? It is like your oath and duty as a woman...

Something like that?

Anyway back in DECEMBER, we were all home on a Monday morning and I was folding the clothes while watching Rachael Ray 

(disclaimer: she is not my fav, but sometimes she pulls through with fabulous recipes and sometimes I get really bored of Good Things Utah shh don't tell ANYONE...there you have the truth)

And she made these tater-tots I wouldn't say i thought like "oh my goodness that looks so delicious I have to try it" but it was more like- "eh that something new and I got time" WELL...We loved them. They are NOT healthy. But they are a fun alternative to you typical sides. We had BLTs & homemade tater tots. So fun. A little more work than steak fries or something but really worth it. Ryan asks for them once a week but umm...one of us has to look good at the splash pad while the other works in a lab coat that covers up everything quite nicely. (just kidding- to all that really, but we don't eat them weekly) 

Side note:One time we made them and they didn't turn out. Lame. I don't know what we did wrong. 

But long story short, you probably don't watch Rachael Ray (where are my GTU fans? haha) You probably wouldn't google Homemade Tater-Tots anytime soon, and even if someone random pinned it you might not try it but I just thought I would share a little treat we discovered! Thank you Rachael! (since I have watched her like 4 times I feel like I can drop the Ray)

The photos on the link are better but thought I'd show off our mad skills

 BLTs are so much better in the Summer but we occasionally still bust them out.

Special thanks to my beautiful hand model. Love Love Love that man!

Easter

I love Easter! I love the: 

Easter egg hunts

 carrot cake

 family time

dressing in our Sunday best

remember and sharing with other's our Savior's sacrafice for us

 the Easter basket

 decorating eggs

And like with EVERYTHING it is all so much more fun with a little one whose eyes light up with each activity! The Easter bunny went shopping a few weeks before easter when Wesson LOVED trains, was obsessed with trains, ate, played, slept and dreamed trains. Since those few weeks Wesson has come to love garbage trucks and soccer balls with the same love he once reserved only for trains. Blasted! But he still loved the train set, book, train candy, and "race cars for church" (he kept calling them that, umm we don't race cars at church but whatever makes the little man happy!)

 Wesson's Easter basket

I loved the color coordination of it all. Completely accidental. Lets just say I am THAT good a mom!

 Dad & Wesson putting the track together 

(we figured out a few days later it makes a cool figure 8 shape...it took us awhile ok! and also Ryan and I still find ourselves playing with the trains while Wesson is over engaged in other toys...lame confession I know!)

 I LOVE this picture! It is everything easter to me! I loved his little tie- he did too! "Daddy's tie for ME?" All day long. It was seriously so cute, and uh...maybe I should get him more ties...

 American Gothic (right? we should have had pitch fork props!)

Wesson and Livi

This is neither of their personalities. This must be what you get when 6 adults are trying to make you smile. "seriously?" Also- I just realized our backdrop was a chainlink fence. We'll do better next year...

Happy Easter everyone! 

The best mothering moment had to be, after Wesson was SO excited about his basket, I tried to teach him about the "real" meaning of Easter. I told him how Jesus died and his friends and family were really sad but then he lived again and everyone was happy, and it makes us happy because we know we can live with our families again. A few hours later we were talking about Easter again and I said "what is Easter about, Wesson?" To which he replied: "trains, Jesus died and was sad and lived again with a family happy"close enough right? and trains still came first...

A true patriot

Wesson is SO smart. 

Everything we teach him he picks up on so quickly and doesn't forget (except colors and that makes me a LITTLE nervous)

In his Elmo book there is a flag. One morning I told him that it was a flag. At first I thought how excited I was that he had learned what a flag was, so I would get enthusiastic and  point them out while we go for walks, or drives or around town. Then Wesson took over pointing them out, and I would still respond enthusiastically 

"YES A FLAG!!!"

Maybe you don't know this but the "l" sound is REALLY tricky for little ones. 

It is downright not existent . 

Which I didn't think much of until we attend out friend's reverent, special baby blessing, and my sweet innocent son starts yelling "FAG, FAG, FAG!!!" to the American flag up on the stand. I panicked and ran out of the chapel with him! I realized then he just wanted me to be as excited as I had in the past, so we addressed the issue and I worked on acknowledging but down playing my enthusiasm (which was happening naturally regardless) Then we attended my little sister's college graduation this weekend at BYU-Idaho. A very, again, reverent occasion, in the present of a General Authority and other General leaders of the church. And wouldn't you know, they post the colors. Yes, it was my son who yelled "FAG FAG FAG!!!" in front of Elder Ballard. Awesome. It is hard to do anything but laugh when he says it SO cute and excited. We'll just keep working on the "l" sound...

this is the only picture i have of a flag. but i think it turned out really cool. it is from Brother (Agent) Francom's procession. Such a neat experience I hope I am never a part of again. 

One year older & wiser too...

Guess who had a birthday!? I'll give you a hint: It wasn't me!

Sad this is the only picture of us I have of us, and it is from 2008! 

He still looks the same! And umm...now I want to diet!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!

We love you! You are the best father/in law we could ask for! Family oriented, great example, Christ-like, and fun! We look up to you! And Wesson thinks you are just about the greatest Papa! 

to celebrate we had a delicious dinner at Buca De Beppo and walked around the GORGEOUS City Creek! It was fun and low key, I like that! 

 this is my little niece livi, i LOVE her! She is probably the most beautiful little girl in all the world! and this is how she looks at Ryan CONSTANTLY it is adorable!

 Wesson getting a kiss kiss from Grammie, not his cutest picture but it is sweet. She is pretty fond of our little guy and he likes her too!

 the whole fam-damily, the setting must be off because it gets blurry in the back. which sucks because this isn't my best picture! haha! but it was a fun group!

 Papa even shared his birthday dessert, mostly with wesson, not because others didn't want, but because wesson would FLIP as soon as that spoon was not in his mouth! he gets that from me...and ryan...poor pre-diabetic sugar-addic boy!

this is the only picture from City Creek. Ike & Craig enjoying the fountain show- umm maybe enjoying is the wrong word, watching... :)

Happy birthday again Papa!

Every artist needs a canvas...

signs of a Jensen boy:

1. a slightly large nose.

2. unmistakenable determination and work ethic

3. serious passion to things you love (mostly guns)

4. insane artistic/musical ability

(a true Jensen boy must meet three of the four qualifications)

well wesson was spared the nose (thanks to my countless prayers during pregnancy) he does have all the other traits down pat (i don't know if i used that expression right but i was here, and i gave it my best shot)

with no further ado...(again sorry about the cliches)

 We have been working on his letters and I swear there is an A and P in there, I would say child protege but hey, I am bias. 

 this sucker was hard to get a good picture of...but worth it because I KINDA love it and Ryan made me clean it off.

you can't see his portrait in this picture, but I wanted to give you an idea on where he chose to display his artwork. and a shout to Levi Ballsteadt for my FABULOUS new blinds I LOVE them!!!)