Jensen Central

Payson Lakes Campout

2011-07-22T13:07:00.001-07:00

The family campout was held at Payson Lakes, Utah. We had a large site reserved for our extra large family. This location had amazing views in every direction and the weather was fantastic! The little like by our campsite.Everyone pitched in to set up camp.

Our deluxe camping accommodations.

Dinner time. These tables were the perfect size to seat all of these kids during the meal.

Kim & Sonya

Brent & Shawn

The parking lot became a dangerous place to be. Watch out for the fast flying Frisbee!

Ian likes to play with his worm and see how long it can stretch. Yuck!

Gary set up several activities to keep the kids busy and happy. The morning started with each kid decorating a marshmallow shooter.

Some of the kids intently drew designs on their shooter. Then the marshmallow war began. Goggles were a must by all who participated.

Next the kids went on a stroll from one side of the camp to the other. On their way back they discovered a snake on the road.

The next activity was tie dying shirts.

Hannah not only created her shirt quickly but then modeled it for all to see.

Grant took his skull and tank design very seriously.

Ben used all of his favorite colors when he created his shirt.

When there was nothing else to do, some kids played on the fence.

And many kids took turns playing in the hammock. Hannah is enjoying her turn.

Even Max was able to get a hammock ride with the girls.

It was an incredible campout and we are all looking forward to spending time together again soon!

Happy 50th Anniversary!

2011-07-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Mom & Dad on 50 incredible years together! Mom & Dad in 2003 (somehow we missed getting a picture of the two of them together on their special day.)

The big party was held around the corner from their home at the senior center activity hall.

Many friends and family members came for this momentous event!

Amy, Brittany and Amanda.

The place filled up quickly. There was delicious cheese cake with raspberry topping to enjoy.

The kids found their way outside and searched for rolly polly bugs.

We were treated to a beautiful double rainbow.

The Jensen Clan!

The LeCheminant Family.

The Blanke Family.

The Brent Jensen family.

The Chambers family.

The Knetter family.

The Neil Jensen family.

The Avondet family.

Dad & Mom and their darling children :)

Lagoon Fun!

2010-08-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 24th, Brent, Mitchell, Grant, Barb, Amy, Mark and I went to Lagoon in Ogden, UT. Lagoon is an amusement park with lots of roller coasters.

The park does a great job catering to families. They have a dozen Ramadas set up with picnic tables so families can bring their own lunches in. There are also large grassy areas where you can set out a blanket and take a nap in the shade or play with the friendly geese.

One of the first rides we went on was Blast Off. This ride shoots you up in the air like a rocket and then drops you right back down. Very exhilarating!

To travel across the park we rode the lift. Here Brent and Mitchell are waving.

In this picture Barb, Amy and Mark are enjoying the ride across the park.

Hidden in the park is a Pioneer Museum. This part of the park contains several old homes and historical artifacts. Brent and Barb are racing up to this cute house.

Besides cute houses, there was a jail. Unfortunately, Barb and Amy got locked up!

Hmmmm....Amy is now locked up with Brent and Mark. Such a sad face!

Brent and I are standing in front of a cute log cabin.

Barb, Mark, Amy and Brent are in the doorway of an old Rock Chapel. Its amazing to think that this building was able to be relocated to this park.

The highlight of being at Lagoon is to go on the many roller coasters. Wicked is the ULTIMATE roller coaster. This ride starts off by shooting you up 110 feet and then coming back down the 110 feet. Then the ride races you through twists, turns and spirals. It is intense! Mitchell and Grant went on it several times. There were other amazing roller coasters in the park that kept the two of them busy all day long.

Grant is overcoming his fear of spiders! He went on the spider roller coaster.

Mitchell is getting locked into this ride. I can't remember it's name but it spins you in a circle horizontally and then vertically.

Grant exhibits no fear on this ride. We were all impressed that Mark made it through this ride. He is one tough kid!

This is the one ride I refused to go on. This is Grant getting into a cage that the worker will lock. The cage then is attached to a ferris wheel. The insane part of this ride is that the cage spins independently. You can really get this cage rotating fast.

Mitchell is trapped inside this cage and is already getting it to flip around. I feel a little sick just thinking about it!

We left the park at about 10pm. We were all exhausted. As we traveled down Interstate 15 we were able to watch many fireworks going off in honor of Pioneer Day. This was a great way to end an incredible day. Actually, Grant claims that this was the best day of his life. Thanks Barb for organizing the trip to the park!

Alaskan Vacation

2010-07-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad Jensen along with Brent and Haley took a cruise to Alaska. The cruise started in Seattle where we board the "Rhapsody of the Seas" cruise ship. This ship has 11 levels to it. We both had interior state rooms (which means no window) on the third level. Our rooms were right next door to each other which made finding each other on this huge ship easier.

In order to get on the ship everyone had to have a Sea Pass card and have their picture taken.

This is our lovely state room. Not very big but it was comfortable.

Brent and Dad take a break from exploring the ship. They are lounging around the 9th floor outdoor pool. It was always chilly and windy around this pool.

Sometimes we had lunch with a large group. From left to right, here is who came for lunch: Haley, Brent, Carole, Lyn, Elmer, Della, Eddie and Carol (Haley's Grandmother). This was always an entertaining crowd to hang out with.

Dad and Mom dressed up in blue for formal night.

Brent says that the Captain, Rick Sullivan, begged him to have a picture with us. So we obliged and took a picture with him.

While we were visiting Juneau, Alaska, we explored Mendenhall Glacier. It was a magnificent sight!

The four of us in front of the glacier.

The town of Juneau thrives on tourism. Obviously if you put a huge bear in front of your store you are going to attract crazy tourists trying to get a picture with it.

We also visited Skagway, Alaska. Brent had been to Skagway before when he rode up here four years ago on his motorcycle.

We traveled up White Horse Pass and saw many incredible waterfalls. This one is called Pitchfork Waterfall because it comes down the mountain in one stream and then splits into several waterfalls right before it hits the river. The trip up the pass took us into Canada. On the way back we had to get a picture with the Welcome to Alaska sign.The next morning was spent traveling through the Tracy Arm Fjord to Sawyer Glacier. It was cold out on deck so we all bundled up. The glacier was magnificent! There were icebergs floating all round. While we were there the glacier also "calved." This means that a large chunk of it broke off and fell into the ice glacier water below.

Absolutely breathtaking view!

We had another dress up night. It is always fun to put on your fancy clothes and go out!

On this particular evening Mom and Dad volunteered to be contestants on the "Love and Marriage" game show. They were good sports and it was fun to watch them answer all the serious questions about their marriage of 49 years! If you get a chance, you will need to watch their DVD of the show.

To pass the time while we were on the open sea, we would play Mexican Train Dominoes. Fun, fun, fun!

Our last port of call was in Victoria, British Columbia. It was a rainy morning when we arrived. We ended up walking about 30 minutes into town, touring the Parliament Building, explored a castle and went through the Maritime Museum. Our legs were sooooooo tired by the time we walked back to the ship!

The Craigdarroch Castle is really more like a mansion built to look like a castle. It was an amazing building to tour!

The Desert Adventure

2010-03-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

One of the things that Arizona is famous for is the large and expansive desert filled with an assortment of cacti. Another thing Arizona is famous for is having interesting tourist traps out in the middle of the desert. (Okay, Arizona may not be famous for that....)Our adventure began by driving out into the Superstition Mountains east of Mesa. We drove past Canyon lake to the little town called Tortilla Flats. Grant is hesitantly standing in front of a cage filled with baby rattlers. There were a half a dozen of them inside. If you look closely at the picture, you will see a turquoise one and a greenish colored one. The glare on the glass challenges you from seeing the rest.Mom is reading up on how this interesting town came into existence.The town is comprised of four buildings: the museum, the ice cream shop, the cafe and the gift shop. After our barbecue burger lunch on the patio, we all ate the famous Arizona Prickly Pear Ice Cream (Brent and I had chocolate ice cream but Mom and Dad were the lucky ones to try the prickly pear ice cream. Mom's comment was that she liked the color. I think that means she didn't care much for the flavor. I know that I didn't' care much for the flavor when I had it the first time I came here.)

When we left Tortilla Flats we ventured down a LONG dirt road. After several miles of driving we stopped at Fish Creek Hill to admire the desert canyon. Its an amazing site to see the desert so green.After another 8 miles of driving down a dirt road, we arrived at Apache Lake. Its hard to imagine that there are lakes in the middle of what appears to be a barren canyon. This lake connects the larger lake upstream- Roosevelt - to Canyon Lake. To get to Roosevelt Lake we continued another 12 miles down the dirt road. The desert had a few flowers in bloom. We saw pretty purple flowers and vibrant yellow flowers along the road and the paths we hiked on.

It was another beautiful day in the desert! (I don't think I'll be saying that in the middle of July!)

The Ostrich Festival in Chandler, AZ

2010-03-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

Mom and Dad Jensen came for a spring time visit to Chandler, AZ. They came just in time for the annual Ostrich Festival. The ostrich festival features ostrich races, ostrich burgers and many other non-ostrich events.
This bird is taller than me!One fun event we watched was camel racing. It was quite exciting to watch these large animals run around the track. Do you want a ride?

We all stood around watching the penned up camels. Sometimes they would make strange grunting noises while they chewed their spit.

Dad & Mom Jensen and Grant chatting with the camel.

The springtime is the best time to come to AZ for a visit. The desert is in bloom, the weather is agreeable and you might even get to go to the Ostrich Festival!

The Newest Member of the Jensen Family

2009-07-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

Ella Rachel Jensen weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long.

What a cutie!

Utah in June...

2009-05-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars now for the visit of the year! Not only with the Neil and Kim family be visiting Utah in June but so will the Brent and Haley family. Save the weekend of June 19th - 21st for some Jensen family fun! If you have ideas of what you would like to do as a family sometime during those few days, post your ideas here. Plus, what are our chances we can get Kaylene and Sonya to come up for the weekend/week? That would even be more fun! It would almost be a family reunion!

Here are some ideas to start the list:

1. All the die-hard athletes can hike Mount Timpanogus. (It's only like 16+ miles!) All of the non-hikers can play super fun games all day with the kids.

2. Go to the "Strawberry Days" rodeo and parade in Pleasant Grove (it runs June 14th - 20th)

3. Visit the famous Bingham Copper Mine and go on a tour (open 8am - 8pm weekdays $5 per car)

And the list can go on. I'm sure you can think of a lot cooler things to do than this.

Also, don't forget that Sunday, June 21st is Father's Day :) so we'll have to have a yummy family dinner for all of the dad's that day.

See you soon!

A Visit From Aunt Sharlene & Uncle Ralph

2009-04-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

During spring break Aunt Sharlene and Uncle Ralph were in Arizona to visit Ralph's sisters. While they were in Queen Creek they decided to come by for a visit. It was fun to visit with them in our home. Brent hadn't seen them in several years and I was able to meet them for the first time. We had lots of laughs and some fresh lemonade.

We hope they come back and visit us again!