Baby boy #2

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and found out we are having another boy! Kurt and I(and everyone else I think) thought it would be a girl...then the ultrasound tech lady asked if we had any guesses and when I said the word "girl" I knew in that instance it was going to be a boy! He was being a little shy at first but after alittle shaking and wiggling he decided to show all! And there are no doubts that he is infact a boy! I think some where deep inside, Tyson understood. Because for the rest of the day he was extremely hyper! We were chasing him around last night while he laughed, trying to get his P.J.'s on and I couldnt help but think how fun it will be chasing two little guys around! Call me crazy but I am excited for those times.

Lets start with Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was low key this year. Kurt, Tyson and I stayed here in Nevada. Our families live far away and in places where it likes to snow a lot. So instead of spending the outrageous amounts of money that airlines like to charge over the holidays and instead of risking our lives through the ice and snow storms, we have decided to spend the winter holidays at home and travel to see family in the safer summer months. I must say it was hard to be pregnant over Thanksgiving! I wanted to eat everything before it was even made and when thinking about eating one thing it would trigger another craving. I tried to keep the "steph" foods to a minimum but I still made way too much and ended up not eating half of it! But I did attempt to make everything from scratch which I did except for the mashed potatoes!

 My mom makes awesome pies and knows how to fold the edges just right to make them look perfect. Mine however....did not look so great!

 I am not very good with baking things that require yeast and raising. But this year I made a recipe of my Mother in Laws which turned out great!

 Kurto even helped make the stuffing!! Such a good husband I have!

 We also continues my families tradition of playing cribage...which I won!

The day after Thanksgiving we put up Christmas Lights on the house for the first time!!

 And decorated the tree! Sometimes I wish we could travel and see the whole family over these Holidays but I really love making our own traditions and making memories in our home with our new family!

Finding the Time

I wish I had time to blog everyday or atleast every week like I use to...but between an 18 month old, a Christmas tree that is very appealing to that 18 month old and baby that is keeping me very tired and very sick, I cant seem to find the time to sit down and write. I wish I did because I really love it. I need to post about Thanksgiving, about the baby, about Tyson, about my week trip to Wyoming, about my birthday, about our fencing blowing down, about our house full of sickies and oh so much more. So please be patient as I slowly catch back up!

Come and Play

 Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came to visit this past week! We had a fun and productive time. I always feel bad because there is NOTHING to do in this sad little town of ours. You have to drive an hour to Reno to do anything halfways exciting- but hopefully they enjoyed there visit anyhow.

 Tyson was of course shy for the first couple of days...accept at the dinner table. He seemed to think we always needed dinner and a show! He loved to jabber in his little language he has come up with and loved the attention and laughter her got each night(notice the Cardinals World Series shirt!!!)

 He did love to knock down blocks that Grandma and Grandpa would build into towers! And REALLY loved posing for the camera!

 We gotta put our guests to work right?!!! The tree in our front yard grows like crazy and especially this year. It hid our entire house by the end of the summer and people started calling that were coming over because they didnt recognize which house was ours. So we went out and started cutting. Kurt and his Dad got up on the ladder, in the tree and cut about 6+ feet off of the top.

                                    

 We piled the branches into the driveway(this picture shows about 1/4 of them!) the first day and Marita and I used small hand clippers to cut all the branches up into small enough pieces to put into garbage bags. The next day the guys helped with that part and we plowed through it all in 2 days!

 By the end people were pretty sore and pretty worn out! But we are SO greatful for their help and it looks 100x's better now! Tyson also warmed up to them by the last day(of course) would even put his hands out for Grandma to hold him. Stayed by himslef in his bedroom with her and read books, played with Grandpa with out needing Dad right there and even gave them hugs and kissed goodnight! Thanks for the fun times!

Halloween with the Jensens

This was Tyson's first Holloween that he actually got to participate! And he really enjoyed it!

Here is our little Tigger. He looked SOO cute!!

                                    Kurto is starting to love carving pumpkins as much as I do!

                                                             Tyson's first house!

                                                          Here is my 2011 pumpkin!

                                                    And Kurto's 2011 pumpkin!

        Tyson's first pumpkin. He liked coloring on the paper better then the pumpkin which suprised me. I      thought if he had the opportunity to color on something else he would but I guess I thought him well!

Skoobers...a girls best friend

My Mom called with some sad news today...
When we were little my Dad repetedly told us we could absolutly not get a dog. My Mom and all 5 children's vote for one, out weighed my Dads vote against one and so....we got him a Dog for his brithday! That was a long long long time ago. Skooby was his name (grubs,scrubs, goobers and skoob were just a few of his nicknames). I LOVE this dog. I can recall the day we went to the pound to get him. We walked up and down the kenels hoping for a dog to "just feel right" and one did! The workers told us not to reach through the fence or to pet the dogs at all but my Mom reached right through to Skooby where she recieved licks and licks of love and I hoped that he would be the new addition to our family! And he was. My Dad wasnt happy with us at all but he fell in love with him almost as quickly as we did and he soon became my Dads buddy! I like to think that this is how my husband will feel when we some day get a dog. He has some negative thoughts about what having a dog is like. But I believe if you train them right they can truely be mans best friend.
I showed Skooby in 4-H for a couple of years which he LOVED! My mom made a bag that I would carry his leashes and treats in when I would take him to "class" once a week. He quickly learned where we were going when I had this bag in hand and even started carying it around by himself hoping to go more often. He would ride in the truck, proud as any dog could be as we drove to class, and then once we were there he would prance up and down the isles as we showed. He was perfect! My instructor often used Skooby as the good example in class. I honestly think he was sad when we stopped going.
He was our buddy, like another brother to us. He went everywhere with us. Even when we would go up to the mountains in the deep, freezing snow we would put his coat on and he would trudge through right along with us. He went camping, hiking, sleding, to outdoor church activities to celebrations. Everywhere.
Well he is gone now. He was getting pretty old. Recently my Mom said that he stopped eating, drinking and even walking. She said he slept all day long and sometimes had little seizures. It had gotten so bad that my Mom finally had to get him put down. I think she is having a really hard time with it especially since she is home ridden for the most part since her back surgery and Skooby was by her side constantly. When she got home from the vet she found a tennis ball and pushed it to the side with her foot and said she thought she heard Skooby run after it. It will be weird going home to visit and not have Grub run up and greet us. But I'm sure he is happier and healthier now where he is and probably enjoying some catch up time with his buddie Chewbaka who passed away a year or so ago, his other buddy frisky who chased him all around the house years ago and my Mom's horse who she passed down to me who passed away after having a stroke.
I hope that some day my children can grow up and share a bond with a pup such as Skooby. A friend that never judges you, you never fight with, will never leave you. But will stand by your side through thick and thin and greet you at the door with his tail wagging, ready to brighten your day from whatever things have gone wrong.
I'll miss you Skooby, and I love you!

Lately

I haven't posted in a while...I havent been feeling good and I'm either busy with Tyson or sleeping! But here are a few things that have happened lately.
I was asked to run a table at a career night, one of the Young Women in our ward was putting on for a Personal Progress Project. It was a lot of fun and the girls seem to really be interested in what I had to say. Some just had silly questions like, "what is this thing on my face!" Which I am happy to help with. But for the most part they hadn't heard of the things I did for a career and found it interesting..maybe a little gross too!!! It made me miss work for about 20 minutes until I came home and found my handsome husband sitting alone on the couch waiting for me and my beautiful boy sound asleep in his bed and I remembered how much I love staying home to be a wife and mother and wouldnt change it for the world!
Tyson has recently discovered tantrum throwing, going limp when you try to pick him up and screaming when he doesnt get what he wants. Its not too fun, especially when it happens in public or at the park when everyone is staring at you. I'm not sure exactly how to handle it in public, Im sure I'll figure it out though. There was a little boy around 3 or 4 at story time that was not listening to his mother and she loudly put him into time out in the same small room where story time is held. The little boy is screaming at the top of his lungs while she is yelling at him to shut up. No one was paying attention to the story anymore let alone could hear it. Anyways the moral of this story is that I know well enough to remove Tyson from the room or area where people are, to take action!
Saturday night we were getting Tyson ready for bed and while running, trying to get away from getting his jammies on, he slipped on the tile in our entry way and landed face first. His mouth instantly filled with blood and I just knew we would be heading to the ER. Kurt instantly sprang into action and got a washcloth to clean his mouth out so we knew if we needed to go. After fighting Tyson for a little while we could see that his tooth cut/scraped his lip all the way up to the outside of his upper lip. It stopped bleeding after 10 minutes or so and we didnt have to go get stitches! THANK GOODNESS! But for the rest of the night and the next morning he couldn't stop touching it. I bet it felt wierd cuz it was pretty fat! It has healed quickly and he seems to have forgotten about it now.
I got my haircut on Saturday. I have been trying to grow it back out but it needed a trim and a change of style for it to grow. I was so excited and told Kurt that everytime I get excited to have my hair done the lady always calls and cancels but luckily that didnt happen. Instead I got there, explained to her what I needed. And then left the chair...sad. I felt like a hillbilly with a mullet. NO- actually my Mom has this punk rocker wig she always use to wear for halloween and THAT is how I felt it looked. The hairstylist gave me very short, choppy layers in the back and chopped my bangs off above my eyebrows. I was not happy. When I went out to meet Kurt, he wasnt there and wouldnt answer his phone. Finally he called back and was still at Wal-mart. Normally that would have been fine, no big deal I would just enjoy the time to myself and go for a walk while he came to get me. But I felt so self conscience about my hair I was very mad at him. I didnt get a good look at my hair before I left so i wasnt sure EXACTLY waht it looked like. All I could image was this girl walking up and down the sidewalks with this punk rocker wig on! People probably thought I was crazy. Then when Kurt got there to pick me up, he doesnt say a thing about my hair which is a bad sign! Usually he'll say oh let me see, oh it looks good. But he just pretended I didnt just get a haircut, which made me feel even more self conscience. I mean I want my husband to think I am attractive, what wife doesnt. Anyways I decided it was time to get rid of my highlights today and dyed my hair which came out a lot darker than I had planned but much to my suprise my horrible haircut didnt look as bad as it did with the highlights. I'm quite a bit happier now and can smile while I do my hair instead of aggressively comb it into a ponytail for the next month while it grows out!
Well those are a few things going on lately! There are a few more but I'll wait til next time for those!

Leave it at the pulpit!

I think my sister will appreciate this post the most!
"Leave it at the pulpit" is a saying my sister and I have come up with over the years when we give a talk or a lesson that we think didnt go so well. We cant help but think about all the things that went wrong and how stupid we must have looked. It gets so deep into our brain that nothing else can seem to sneek its way in. This can last for days. So we tell each other to "leave it at the pulpit. You cant change it, you cant do anything about it. It is what it is and people most likely forgot about it 2 seconds after you sat down while you are beating yourself into the ground about it."
Well I am writing this post because I am having a hard time leaving it at the pulpit! Here is my story...

Tonight for our Young Womens activity we had a camera crew from Salt Lake for vineyard.lds.org come and film us for a "Mormom Message". We had fun at first touring their site and sharing service experiences. But then it got serious and here's why.  The other reason they came was because they wanted to get a story of our Leaders who has gone through breastcancer/chemo 2 times and in between had a baby when she was told there was no way she would have any more children. So 3 AMAZING miracles in her life. Well they asked if anyone would like to share how we feel about this great Leader of ours. No one raised their hand at first so I thought this was an opportunity for me to let her know how much I appreciate her. Well Im not sure if she or anyone else including the camera crew could even understand what I was saying through my bauling. I didnt feel emotional in anyways until the time came for me to say how I felt. I'm pretty sure I snorted a couple time, I'm pretty sure I stared off into space the whole time, and I'm pretty sure I will not be included in the video. It was bad. Im really hoping Im making a bigger deal out of it then it was....but Im pretty sure Im not!! I'm having a really hard time leaving this one at the pulpit.
But what I was TRYING to say was how great of an example she is to me and to everyone else around her. Sometimes I may feel tired from Tyson waking up once in the middle of the night and feel like staying home from Young Womens but she comes every single Tuesday no matter how she is feeling, no matter what she has gone through. I dont think there is a time I havent seen her doing something for someone else. She is simply amazing.

Forget me not

General Relief Society

Take a number please

Today I stopped by the fabric store and much to my surprise the entire store had been rearranged and "updated". After finding my way through the newly laid out fabric, I brought the ones I chose to the lady at the cutting table. There was only one other person in the store that was all the way at the other side of the store checking out. When I laid the fabric on the table the lady asked, "do you have a number?" Confused I told her no. She pointed to a number giving gadget and told me, "take a number please." 2 seconds after I took a number, a small screen above the ladies head started to flash "55". I looked at my number which happen to be...55! The lady walked all the way to the phone, got on the intercom and announced, "now serving number 55, now serving number 55." I looked around me and then again at my number and then handed her number 55. She smiled and said thank you and then proceeded to talk to me like this awkward moment had not just happened. As I was telling Kurt this story he laughed and reminded me of the above Meet the Parents moment! Funny but awkward!

3 years!

Kurt and I recently celebrated our 3 year anniversary. 3 years seems like a long time but then again seems like hardley anything- if that makes any sense! We have done so much and been through some great times these short but long 3 years! A few that stick out are 1)Our wedding day. I might have mentioned this before but my sister accidently forgot her Temple Recommend in Wyoming and it took a long time for them to get ahold of her Bishop to verify that she did indeed have a recommend. But while we were waiting Kurt and I got to sit in a room by ourselves holding hands. Sometimes we would talk and sometimes we would just sit holding hands dreaming of how great this day and this life would be. I am  truely greatful for that time together in the Temple. 2)One night Kurt and I had a little argument and I started to cry. He hugged me so tight that I had no doubt in my mind in that moment how much he loved me. He then booked a hotel in Reno, packed overnight bags for us and took me in the middle of the night on a mini get away!! 3)The day we found out that we were having a boy was one of the most exciting days I can recall. As soon as the Dr. told us, "its a boy" I could see Kurt trying to hold back from jumping up and down!
My husband is the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me. He loves me unconditionally even through my many flaws. He supports our family and works so hard so that I can stay home and raise our children. I can't even express how greatful I am for that! I love him with all of my heart and I cant wait to see what the next 3 years will bring!

Stretch Marks

I saw this on pintrest and loved it!
Stretch marks:
"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me. It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

Cooking

Im not one of those people that can invision how food will taste before I make it...or taste it and decide what needs to be put in it to make it better. When my Mom would ask us if we wanted to help make dinner, my answer was always no. So with out those qualities but now wanting to find love for cooking for my family, I find myself messing up food sometimes! Here are a few funny experiences!

1) When newely married Kurt told me that he loved Cheesey Potatoe soup from Outback. So I thought I would suprise him with a homemade batch. I looked up on the internet "Outback Potatoe soup recipe" and found one that seemed fairly simple(dont trust things you read on the internet!) I cant remember all that went into it but there was velveta cheese, potatoes and milk...come to think of it maybe those were all the ingredients!! I mixed them together exactly how the recipe said but Kurto was running late from work and the longer the "soup" sat on the stove the thicker it got. In an attempt to salvage it, I added more milk which for some reason made it even thicker. By the time Kurt got home the spoon wouldnt even come out of the "soup" and all was left was basically a block of cheese with chunks of potatoe. It went straight to the garbage and I cant remember if I cried outloud or went the bathroom to do it quietly.

2) I like to make these chicken rolls with cream cheese inside. They call for chives but I rarely put them in. This time I decided to but realized I had no chives...so I put Oregano instead. Garbage. Enough said!

3)Last week I was making sauce for sloppy joes and it calls for cinnamon and cloves. A very small amount of cloves. I put in the small amount of cloves and then a very large amount of...cloves instead of cinnamon. If you have ever used cloves you know its very strong and the sauce could not be salvaged.

Although sometimes things go wrong I really enjoy learning and growing in cooking for my family!

Projects!

OMGosh!!! I am so stinkin' excited about my next projects. I bet you'll never guess what I'm going to make with this stuff!! I think you'll be plesently suprised! I'll show you as soon as its done- which shouldnt be too long cuz Im soo excited I cant put it off!

So I havent posted anything about Tyson lately and I need to brag! So he's a little bit about Tyson Grady Jensen

He is 14 months old on Monday.

He walks everywhere and hardly ever wants to be carried anymore- except for those times when he is tired and grumpy and wants to be held NON STOP!

He gives really really great hugs which make me smile inside and out!

He loves to "talk". All though he is the only one that understands what he's saying.

He likes to point at everything. If we are walking through the store and see's something he wants to touch(oh and he likes to touch everything!) he will point and "talk". If he see's his pacifier up on the counter, he points at it. If he wants to go outside he points to the door. If its bed time but he still wants to play he'll point at his bedroom door wanting to go back to the living room!

He is learning to run and in doing so has gotten quite a few bumps and bruises.

He can feed himself with a fork..most of the time!

We are still working on trasitioning from bottle to sippy...2 down 2 more to go through out the day. The morning and night ones are the hardest!

He likes to go pull the movies off of the bookself when he is upset with me.

He thinks that anytime I turn on the computer it means we're going to skype someone- he gets so excited but then gets bored when all I am doing is checking my email!

He can climb onto the couch and the bench in the living room.

He loves to go play at the park and swim in his little pool in the yard.

He thinks its funny to pinch your arm when changing his diaper.

He got stunk by a bee when we were eating breakfast outside:(

Im sure there are more things and I could go on forever but I'll stop there!

One of those days...

"The purpose of our existence is to attain true joy and happiness. “Men are, that they might have joy” (2 Ne. 2:25). The plan of salvation is often referred to as the plan of happiness. However, we are here to be tested. And since there is opposition in all things, all of us will experience sadness.
God wants us to be happy. But Satan is working to make our lives miserable. President Ezra Taft Benson explained that Satan’s tools for fighting the plan of happiness are “despair, discouragement, despondency, and depression”."- New Era

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."- Mathew 11:28

In Nazareth, the narrow road,
That tires the feet and steals the breath,
Passes the place where once abode
The carpenter of Nazareth.
And up and down the dusty way
The village folk would often wend;
And on the bench beside him lay
Their broken things for him to mend.
The maiden with the doll she broke,
The woman with the broken chair,
The man with broken plough, or yoke,
Said, "can you mend it carpenter?"
And each recievecd the things he sought,
In yoke or plough or chair or doll;
Then broken thing which each had brought
Returned again a perfect whole.
So, up the hill the long years through,
With heavy step and wistful eye,
The burdened souls their way pursue,
Uttering each the plaintive cry:
"O Carpenter of Nazareth,
This hear, thats broken past repair,
This life thats shattered night to death,
Oh can you men them Carpenter?"
And by His kind and ready hand,
His own sweet life is woven through
Our broken lives until they stand
A New Creation- "all things new."
"The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,
Desire, ambition, hope and faith,
Mould Thou into the perfect part,
O, Carpenter of Nazareth!"

Having one of those days today..well more like week actually. Feeling a little down, depressed, self conscience. But these things brought me comfort. Maybe they can help you too on those days we all have when seems like satan is working so hard at pulling us down into despair. We are here to have joy and I have OH SO MUCH to be joyful about! Tomorrow will be a new day

2011 We Believe Girls Camp

I didnt go to Girls Camp with my Young Women this year but one of the Stake Leaders made this slide show and it so good! I said when I saw that is was over 7 minutes long that I wasnt going to watch it all. But I did!! And you should too!!click here---> 2011 We Believe Girls Camp

I should stop watching the news

One time my friend Emily, my sister Liana and I were walking down the street from our house when a large Hispanic man drove past in a large beat up blue car. After passing us he quickly turned around and started to follow us. We of course ran and ended up in another friends green house where we could look out and see the street without being seen. We saw him circle and circle and circle the block. Finally when he was gone we ran home and called the police- who did nothing.
Now when a car passes me while I going for my morning walk I look over my shoulder to make sure they dont turn around. If they do, I pretend to be going up the drive way to a house. Now this fear might stem from what happend when I was little, it might be hightened because I am now a Mother and want to protect my son from anything. But it also might be becasue I watch all of these stories on the news that happen to other people who say, "it will never happen to me." My mind is constantly filled with the fear of someone breaking into my house, of someone trying to get into my car while I am at a stoplight or of someone trying to harm me while I go for my morning walk. I try to think of everything I would do to get out of the grips of a bad guy. I have my phone in my pocket at all times incase something like this happens. I lock my bedroom door when I am blowdrying my hair. I know Im crazy!!
I recently watched the Primetime story of Jaycee Dugard and her horrendous nightmare of being kidnapped and held for 18 years. She told Diane Sawyer that when the car pulled up beside her she thought they were just going to ask for direcections but next thing she new she was being tazed and shoved into a van. I was thinking of this exact instance when Tyson and I were walking today-right about then I heard a car slowly pulling up behind me. I jumped to the side taking Tyson along with me. An older man and woman pulled up and asked me where the School was and I couldn't help but continue to think of the primetime show. I started to think of everything I would do incase this man's door started to open, just then I then saw a couple of giddy kids in the backseat who I could see were very excited and all dressed to go play at the playground. I felt guilty for thinking about this while these people were honestly just trying to find the park. Although my mind will probably still be filled with these thoughts- and I think to a point it is good to be aware of things that could happen- I think I will stop watching as many of these stories on the news so that my mind isn't taken over by these thoughts.

Someone...anyone....

I need your help! I really really REALLY want to post comments onto my sisters blog! But it wont let me- it tells me to enter the security code that I see and when I do and push "post comment" it takes me to the blogger sign in page where I sign in but then it takes me back to put in another security code which then takes me back to sign in. It is an endless circle and wont let me post a comment. PLEASE HELP IF YOU KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS!

Weekend fun

Can you believe it?! WE WENT CAMPING! And very much enjoyed it. We went with our friends the Lights who are good at getting us to do things we might not do on our own for a long time! I love camping but it took some convincing to get my dear Kurto to go! But we went and we will go again! We arrived Friday night-I forgot to take any pictures that night-Joey Light made some awesome dutch oven chicken and rice and pineapple upsidedown cake and then we roasted up some s'mores! MMMM! Saturday morning Kurt and I made breakfast...well attempted to! It was a good learning experience in cooking at camp anyways! Pancakes, eggs and fruit..



After breakfast we went for a bike ride which Tyson fell asleep during. We made our way to a beautiful stream and watched the boys throw rocks into it! We really did have a good time and I am grateful to the Lights for letting us come last minutes- especially since they had to reserve the spot 3 months ago! We will definitely be doing this more often.