PIC PIC PICS!

 I have always been fascinated with photography, I took photography and yearbook classes in High School(that was before digital cameras though!) And loved every minute of it. My Dad did photography in college and we have a lot of loved pictures that came from those classes. My sister loves photography and is naturally talented and joking one day(I wasnt joking!!) we planned to come together and have our own photography business, which her husband named "Two Broads Photography"!
My sweet husband got everyone together and got me new DSLR for my birthday and Christmas. It has been the beginning of a dream come true and I have realized that this is what I really love. I love being able to create my own piece of art, not just what the camer decides to take. I can take a picture and make it mine in any way I like. I have to admit that it is a lot more confusing than I expected and there are a lot of elements you have to take into consideration to get the right exposure for one single shot. And once you get it, 2 minutes later, it may not be the right exposure anymore. I study hours each day. And I love every minute of it. I have a LOT to learn still and I have a LONG way to go before my pictures will be ready for Two Broads Photography! But I have found something that I love so I thought I would share my experiences and experiments with you!
I found a 30 day photography challenge. Each day you have a different photograph topic, I thought it would be pretty simple take "this" kind of picture...done. But I have found it has taught we a lot and it takes me about an hour of playing with the exposure adjustment and different poses to get the picture I like and Im only on day 2!

Day 1- self portrait

Day 2- What you wore

A Christmas Suprise

We stay home for winter holidays. Its too stressful and dangerous with kids to travel in the winter across the county. This year we had an awesome surprise by Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, who decided last minute to come visit! Kurto came down the flu or something of the sort on Christmas Eve, the day they arrived and so we weren't able to go and play as much as we would  have liked! Not to mention the plan was to go sledding Christmas day but all the snow melted :( But we still had a lot of fun, and always love when people come to visit!

 We have a tradition of painting Christmas tree ornaments every year!

 Grant thought it was cool to eat the paint. Soo NOT cool.

 I made everyone wait at the top of the stairs so I could get the camera set up Christmas morning. The first things Tyson said when he came down stairs was, "Where is Santa?" He was convinced "Santa is coming" meant he was coming to hang out with us!

 Another Tradition... Cinnamon Rolls! MMMMMM!

 Grandpa didnt know that when he came for Christmas, he would be the one assembling everything!! Tyson now calls this,  "The chair Grandpa made"!

The boys loved watching movies with Grandma!

 

Trials

A friends from our old ward that I served in Young Womens with has been diagnosed with Cancer for the 3rd time. This time it has moved to her liver and is causing liver failure. She has stopped chemo and is now just doing hospice care.

This has been weighing heavily on my mind today, I am not good in these situations. I dont know if I hug the person and say I am so sorry, or if they would rather pretend to be happy and healthy and laugh and joke with one other. I never know what to do, so majority of the time I am just silent. I do hope that she knows(and Im sure she does, because she is very very loved) that she is an amazing person. She is strong and faithful and kind. She has so many people including myself that love and admire her. Her children are very very smart and kinds because of the time and effort she puts in to helping them grow and learn but most of all because of her example.

This and a few things going on at Kurts work has made me really think about trials. In my patriarchal blessing it says that I will have trials in this life but they are not to punish me but to see how I will react to them.

We are put on this earth to learn and to grow and we do this through trials, through life experiences. Although we may not understand the reason for the trail in that very moment, we can have faith that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us. He knows our situations. He knows our happiness and our sadness, our anger and frustration. My friend and her family are going through something very very hard. But He knows their family and the things they will need to make it through. She is a very very strong spirit and He knows that, and apparently needs her for something on the other side. The trials we are facing, are small compared to their family. But I know that Heavenly Father still has a plan for us, and is aware of our needs.

 "Their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer." (3 Nephi 10:10)

Give thanks to God in your trials.

We're not crazy!

People probably think we are crazy or dont understand what we are doing. But the simple fact is that we dont just fly by the seat of our pants, but we seek guidance from our Heavenly Father ALWAYS!

We had a great house that we had worked so hard on, transforming it from holes in the wall and a backyard you couldnt walk out to without being attacked by one of the 15 over grown bushes/trees or the bugs residing in them, to a warm inviting home we had pride in and where we started our family. But we couldnt help but feel that our Heavenly Father has other plans for us. So after over a year of prayer and pondering we decided that the short term action was to sell our house. We called an agent got all the information, but felt that although that was the right step the timing wasnt right. Almost 6 months after, we knew it was finally time! The bad economy has hit Dayton hard and houses sell for very cheap and not very quickly. But we were extremely blessed and sold our house with in 2 weeks and 20thousand more than our neighbors...jusr a reassuance that we were doing what we were suppose to do.
We decided to rent for 6 months and save as much money as possile for the next step. We arent 100% sure what that next step is but we are doing our part in researching our options and determining what is best for our family and future.
We have seen many small miracles and blessings through out the process and are confident we are headed for a bright future!

We may have gone from our nice large home, to a small cramped townhouse but I KNOW that my Heavenly Father knows me, he knows my family and wants the best for us. I KNOW his hand is in our life and in the guidance and direction we seek for our future.

                      (Tyson sleeping while we packed!)

My boys

As I sit here on the couch looking around I cant help but think how blessed I am to have such amazing men in my lie.

I see my husband laying across the room patiently holding Tyson until he falls asleep. This may seem like a simple thing but to me it is the world. Tyson loves his Daddy and loves the time he gets to snuggle with him at night, and I dont blame him! Not many men will take the time to do this!

Sometimes Tyson will come up to me and give me a kiss out of no where. This little boy who hasnt been in the world more than 2 years has the biggest heart. He tries to show us how much he loves us in everything he does! His smile melts my heart and his cry breaks it. I cant help but think that I would do ANYTHING to see this little boy smile and ANYTHING to keep him from crying.

I look the other way and see my sweet new boy sleeping so peacefully. He is perfection. When he is awake he looks straight into my eyes and I fall in love with him all over again. I love that he seems to get excited when hearing my voice. I cant wait to see what kind of man he becomes.

I hope they are both like their father.

Catching up...story #1

A lot has happened over the last month and I have yet to add it to my blog...lets start with the most important one! Grant Tyus Jensen arrived on May 9th at 6:33 am. Here is the labor story!! My mom came for 2 weeks in hopes that she would arrive a fews days before he came and be able to stay a few days after. Once she got here we tried everything to get labor going(when she got here I was already 4cm dilated). We walked for hours each day, ran up and down the stairs at the elementry school, played So You Think You Can Dance on the wii, everythign we could think of but nothing worked. One day I had contractions about every 5 minutes and finally went into the Dr. office but they told me I was right on the edge of active labor but didnt want me to go to the hospital yet...3 days later- STILL NOTHING. I was getting so frustrated and tired that I didnt want to time another stupid contraction in my life! And I thought for sure this baby was never going to come! Finally on Tuesday the 8th we were about to Dance to the wii again but for some reason felt exausted from a not so busy day. I went to bed early and woke up at 4 with a mild contraction and asked Kurt to rub my back. Within 15 minutes I had another 3 contractions and decided to take a hot shower to see if they would go away(at this point I felt like the girl who cried wolf and refused to say "its time" just to rush to the hospital to be sent home again) by the time I got in the shower I could hardly stand up and told Kurt to get his stuff ready to go. We left the house at 5 and got to the hospital at 530. On the drive there my contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was screaming for Kurt to hurry up because I was 99% sure the baby was not waiting until we got to the hospital. Luckily he did and by the time we got to OB I was 7cm dilated. I immediately told the nurse that I wanted an epidural right then and there but turns out it was too late and I had to do it totally natural. I'll spare you all the intense details but I DID IT  and luckily only had to push for 20 minutes! I am proud to say that I did but will not do it again if I can help it!   That is the clean and quick version of the not so fun birth of our lovely Tyus. He is healthy and strong and an amazing addition to our family!

Easter Pictures