Everything Jensen

Happy Birthday Grandpa Phil! We were so happy to be able to spend the weekend hiking the lagoons, basking at the beach, and eating cake with the man of the hour. Doug and his family were here, which is always so much fun. Our girls adore Olivia and look forward to her visits with much excitement.     Birthday kisses...    ...and birthday wishes.  Doug and Angela put together a sundae bar with ALL the toppings.    Laura, Colin and Alyssa in from the East Coast!   Why is Adelaide being a "sad puppy", why did Eleanor turn up the sass? We may never know...    Jefferson and Papa on the birthday hike.    Steven's "cool guy" pose. 

She's graduated! She's graduated! Check out how adorable Eleanor looks in a cap and gown. So cute!   Eleanor's school held a graduation ceremony for all the outgoing 5 year olds. The kids marched through the school to the applause of parents and classmates. Then they drove off to fellow classmate Quinn's house for a short graduation program with gifts from the school and pizza party lunch. All the kids were so proud and so excited about starting kindergarten in a few weeks.   Marching through the school    Quinn, Cora and Eleanor - best buddies!    Eleanor's amazing teacher Ms. Amy. Eleanor is happy she will still see Ms. Amy whenever she helps pick up the boys.    Trying to line up the whole class for a picture was... difficult.   Oh the places you'll go, Eleanor!   Eleanor was so happy to be a preschool graduation and an official kindergartener. In fact, she was really distressed...

Our favorite Hawaiians were in town for the weekend. And, since they are beautiful people and we are beautiful people, we look a lot of photos. We were able to join them at the Pioneer Day festival put on by Uncle David's ward, as well as for some fun at Legoland. The Pioneer Day festival was held at a playground, enough to get our kids onboard and excited to go. There was delicious food, sack races, and even a watermelon eating competition. The boys entered the watermelon eating contest, simply so they could run off with their slice of watermelon. Smart. Strategic. Well played. Melinda, Matt and Joe entered the watermelon eating contest for adults because we're all competitive kids at heart. Plus, Melinda can't resist the opportunity to show off her greatest talent - speed eating. It's an essential mom skill. Ask any mom. Some kids jumped far and dived hard. Ours tiptoed carefully across the field in their sacks. Did they win? No, but they arrived safely ...

What's this? Free Slurpee day and Free Chick-Fil-A happening on the same day? Sure, it's junk food, but it's free junk food. Plus, we really enjoyed dressing the kids as cows to earn those free Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. Adelaide thought she could only talk in moos to get her food... and we didn't so as much to correct that misassumption as we could have. Steven was just happy to be a "cowboy."  Moooo!    Sweet rewards.   All hail the slurpee!   Junk food day complete.

Happy Birthday to Adelaide! For your first birthday present, a four day weekend. Nice to have a summer holiday birthday. Can you believe our little girl is turning seven? We can't. Truly. After getting Jefferson a candy cake from Vons for his birthday, Adelaide asked if we could get her a fancy cake too. She was only slightly disappointed that the cake she was hoping for and had seen there so often, covered in rosettes, wasn't there. Most of the cakes were patriotic themed. But, she likes her "birthday colors" too, and was happy to pick another option.  Customized with her name. Over the weekend, we went to the beach with friends. Despite being a warm, July day, the ocean water was cold. The girls braved it, but Steven and Jefferson decided warm sand and dry beach towels were the way to go.  Steven hoped that by staring down Dad and the girls they would abandon the water and play on shore with him.  Beach bum girl  Boogie boarding. ...