Perry's Birthday!

Perry inaugurated her step into the 20's by living it up at Amazing Jake's!  We spend the afternoon eating pizza, pasta and chocolate cake.  As a bonus, there was laser tag and tons of other fun.

 Mitchell gives his beautiful wife a birthday squeeze.  Time to have fun!

 The party goers:  Brent is cut off on the left (sorry).  But we have the cute baby, Diann, the fun neighbors and their sweet baby girl.

 Having fun with the little ones.

 Perry really wanted a tablet.  Instead, Brent & I got her season 9 of Grey's Anatomy.  Perry is trying to look happy.  She wants season 9, but she wants a tablet more.

 A baby carrier from Taylor and Preston.

 Mitchell has a LARGE gift for her.

 Perry is leery of what's inside the non-descript box.

 She is also not amused with the packing peanuts.  It's going to get messy to get the surprise gift out.

 It's a riding helmet!  Now Perry can join Mitchell & Brent on dirt bike adventures in the desert.

Perry believes that all of the presents have been unwrapped.  But no!  Hiding in my purse there is one more gift.  The secret gift is revealed!  Mitchell, Brent & I really did get Perry a tablet!  Her birthday is now perfect.

 Brent plays with Grey and the balloons.  

 She loves them!!!!

Grammy and her sweet grand-daughter.  So much love.

 After waiting 45 minutes in the line for Laser Tag, their adventure finally began.  Which one of these "big" kids will end up with the high score?  The "little" kids on this round need to watch out.

Happy birthday Perry!  Lots of love!

Special Patriotic Award

On Thursday, September 19th, I received an award for "Patriotic Excellence in Teaching" from the Ahwatukee Education Foundation.  The award stems from an essay I wrote titled "What the Constitution Means to Me."  (You can read my essay on my other website www.haleyjensen.com.)

Don Kennedy and I

Don Kennedy was the gentleman who organized the essay contest, introduced me at the meeting, presented me with a cool medal (I'm wearing in the above picture), and handed me a check.  I was then able to talk to the group about why writing an essay about the Constitution was important to me.  Then I presented my essay.  

It was great that Brent, Grant, Mitchel, Perry and my sweet little granddaughter were there to support me.  I am very blessed!

Fun in Flagstaff

On Saturday, September 7th, we traveled to Flagstaff to witness Andrew's special day.  He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He is such a sweet kid.  He has a big heart, gives great hugs, is genuine in his appreciation of others and is a talented athlete.

After the baptism service, we met at a park near David & Jacque's home for a picnic.

 Marshall has the brightest blue eyes!  He liked to check on Kingsleigh to see what she up to.

 The food was blessed, time to dig in!

 Taylor and Heidi quickly grabbed some yummy food and found a place to eat.  There gorgeous mom is in the background verifying that they made good food choices. :)

 Kingsleigh loves Grant.  She is always happy when he comes to play with her.

The awesome Andrew!  Looking great at 8!

 Best friends Taylor and Presley.  Presley wanted to make sure Taylor was smiling which is why she couldn't look at the camera at the same time.  Taylor has a super sweet smile!

 The kindergartners:  Robby and Bearett.  Robby can't help but make crazy faces at the camera.  Behind them is their grandma - the kindergarten teacher!

 This is Miss Independent Macy.  She is wearing a fashionable Cardinals jersey with a yellow tie.  She knows she is looking super cute today!

 To my shock, I found Mitchell playing basketball with the MEN!  I haven't seen him play in several years!

 Then, to my amazement, Grant joined in.  Look at that defense he plays on his brother!

 Going for the rebound...Mitchell seems to be a little taller than the rest!

 Every chance I get, I take a picture with my birthday buddy Shelby.  (Perry is photo-bombing me in the background.  Thanks Perry!)

 Madison, Payten, Heidi and cute Shelby.  The girls thought bunny ears would make this picture perfect.  They were right.

Sarah, Me, Mom, Grandma, Amy and Julie.  We missed you Toni!  You would have made this picture perfect.  We will get you the next time you come to town.

Five Generations

With the birth of my grand-daughter in March, there are five living generations in my family:  My grand-daughter, my son, myself, my mom and my grandmother.  We finally got together at the same time to take a five-generation picture.

About 60 years ago, another five generation picture was taken.  In that picture my mom is the baby.  Her dad is in the picture on the left.  Holding her is her mom, next on the couch is her grandmother (Mommie Hem), then her great-grandmother (Mommie Lew) and all the way to the right is her great-great grandmother (Nan).

It's great to be in a family with longevity.  Maybe in 25 years we will have another picture taken where my grand-daughter is the mom holding a new baby and my grand-mother will be a Triple Great Grandmother!

Mitchell is 20!

On Saturday, August 24th, we had a surprise birthday party for Mitchell.  Brent and Grant took Mitchell to go to the movies to see "White House Down."  Afterward, they went to Harbor Freight to look at rows and rows of tools and man toys.  Perry and I decorated the house and set up the food for the party while they were gone.

 Mitchell walked through the door and was greeted by Perry, Kingsleigh, Diann, Grandma Fern, Amy, Robby, Madison, Marshall, Jacob, Natalie, Ethan, Logan, Harrison, Ryan, Sloan, Chloe and me.  Later on Julie, Jordan and Maeleigh joined in the fun.

 He looked shocked to see not just family but to also see some of his friends surprising him that Saturday evening.

 Grant, Mitchell, Harrison and Kingsleigh.  (For some reason both of my pictures of this group turned out blurry.)

 The party included homemade chicken chimichangas, homemade bacon ranch chicken taquitos, black beans, refried beans, taco meat, nacho cheese sauce, chips and all the fixin's to go with it. YUM!

 Grant is almost as tall as Mitchell.  Who will be taller when Grant turns 20?

 Perry did an incredible job on decorations.  She filled lots of balloons with helium which covered the new ceiling in our family room.  We left the floor wide open for all of the little kids to play.

 Time for gifts.  Mitchell is laughing at the joke in the card from Diann.

 Logan was playing with Max.  It was pretty cute.  Notice that Max is as far away as he can get from the adorable Logan.

 Robby and Madison wanted their picture taken so bad that they were willing to do anything to get caught by the camera. 

 When Mitchell opened this gift from Brent, no one knew what it was except Mitchell.  He was excited to get this chain guard for his motorcycle.

 I gave Mitchell a couple of dress shirts and ties.  Perry and Mitchell like to dress up and go out to dinner.  He will look pretty sharp in his new shirts when he takes his wife out on the town.

 The biggest gift surprise of the night was the gun from Brent.  Mitchell was stoked!  He had been wanting a gun for a while.  While I am typing this up, Brent, Mitchell and Grant are off in the desert trying it out.  Jacob said he wants Brent to get him one for his birthday too.  :)

 I love snapping pictures of our fake twins Marshall and Maeleigh.  They are 11 months old.  In a few weeks we will be celebrating their one year birthday.  It is still mind boggling that these two kids were born on the same day, in the same hospital a few hours apart my my darling sisters who had due dates 3 weeks apart!  Awesome!

 Harrison brought Mitchell's delicious birthday cake.  I tried to get a picture of Mitchell blowing out the candles; however, he never bent over to blow them out.  He did it while he was standing straight up.  My camera was already set and focused on him getting close to the cake.  So the picture that I have is of his torso in front of a cake with the candles blown out (lame).

It's hard to believe that on August 28th it will be 20 years since he was born.

He has grown quite a bit from when he arrived in the world at 8 pounds, 21 inches long.  He is still as sweet, kind, loving, and fun to be around as he was back then.  I am pretty lucky to be his mom.  Love you Mitchell!!!!

Another School Year Begins

Monday, August 5th started Grant's junior year of high school.  

He is still attending Corona del Sol High School.  He is taking Junior English, Word History/Geography, Finite/Brief Calculus, Advanced Biology, Seminary, and Ceramics.  So far ceramics is his favorite class.  They've already started working with clay.  His first project will be put in a metal garbage can filled with sawdust.  Then then sawdust will be lit on fire.  After the fire goes out, his finished project will be removed.  I'm looking forward to seeing it.  He also likes his advanced biology class.  He teacher is student focused and wants the students to learn about themselves and challenge themselves.  He will be going on a survival trip in November.  He will only be allowed to take 1 quarter of water, a piece of plastic and a couple of other things.  I wouldn't want to do the survival trip.  I drink a lot more water than that; however, Grant is excited about the adventure.

Here is the high school height progression picture (freshman, sophomore, and junior).  Grant has surpassed me in height.  He still likes to give me a hard time about smiling for the camera. Hopefully, it will be another great school year!