Visit with Santa

Our ward Christmas party was also Sat. evening. Before the dinner Santa was there to visit with the children. Jenna was so excited, here she is waiting her turn. (the party was storytime themed, so the kids came in pajamas, very cute)

This was as close to Santa's lap that she got. Way better than previous years though, so good job Jenna :)
She couldn't stop talking about it all night!
FYI: the rest of the ward party was a hit as well. Jenna had a great time listening to the different stories being acted out. So thank you to those whose organized and carried everything out :)

Jenna's first ballet recital

Jenna had her first ballet recital on Saturday. I was so glad that my family could come over and be apart of our day. It was quite the rush to get home from the run and then get ready for the recital, but well worth it. Jenna looked so cute in her tutu. She of course loved it too :) I was a little nervous that she wouldn't go up on the stage, but boy was I wrong. She had a great time, I love her smile in the pic of her performing. Such joy! She couldn't wait to go up again after her part was over. It's a good thing there was a group performance at the end. Chad had a rose for her at the end, and my parents also gave Jenna a little gift. So thoughtful, thank you Mom and Dad! Here are some highlights.

With all of the ups and downs we've had with dance this year, the recital made it all worth it for both of us. I was so glad that Jenna had so much fun performing.

Thanks again, Dad, Mom, Shannon and Connor, for coming over for a quick visit. Jenna had a blast playing with you guys and we did too. She is already counting down the days when we'll see you guys again. Love you.

Christmas Rush Fun Run

Yet another tradition that was started last year. However, this year I was able to talk my family into coming over from Spokane and joining me. (Jenna's ballet recital was another incentive)

Here's a before pic. I thought the shirts were pretty cute with the little penguin.

Me, Shannon, Mom, Connor and Dad
After the race.
Shannon and Connor ran with their Santa hats, very festive. It was a freezin' good time :)
I was so proud of my mom for stayin' with me running most of it and for my Dad for finishing strong! I set a personal goal of running the whole thing. The freezing cold masked any aches or pains that I might have been feeling :) I love that this race is perfectly placed between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is quite the motivator.

A night in Bellevue

Last year was our first year visiting Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. We kept the tradition again this year and took my family while they were visiting too.

Connor, Mom and Dad. Afterward we got hot chocolate from the conviently located Starbucks!

We then headed over to the Garden D'lights at the Bellevue botanical gardens. Here's Connor and Jenna with their list of hidden critters. Jenna really wanted to find the slug, while Connor was trying to find all 3 geckos.

The whole gang trying to stay warm.

Christmas traditions

I'm finally getting caught up on the blog after a busy couple of weeks.

Here's Jenna after we finished decorating our tree.
We made snowmen pretzels (idea from Family Fun Mag.)
We made and decorated a family gingerbread house. This was Jenna's side :)
"J" for Jenna and oh yeah Jergensen!
Chad even made Emily and her house!

New glasses

I forgot to mention that Jenna got new glasses. Her farsightedness stayed the same but her astigmatism got worse. So, the result is thicker lenses. But, I haven't noticed her eye crossing which means its helping. She has another appt. in 4 months to see how the new prescrition is working. Keeping my fingers crossed :) You can see them in the pics below. She got them a few days before Thanksgiving. She is such a good girl in wearing/taking care of them. I am so grateful for that.

Thanksgiving '09

We spent Thanksgiving with Chad's oldest sister and her family down in Medford Oregon. Jenna was counting down the days until she got to see her cousins. And even now she is asking if we can pack up and go see them again. It's fun to have so many cousins all close in age. The day after Thanksgiving, after shopping, we headed up to Mt. Ashland to play in the snow. The kids had a great time sledding, making snowballs and then throwing them at eachother :) We also took the kids to the Childrens Museum. It was perfect, not too busy and lots to do!! Yes, in the pics Whitney is pretending to have a baby, Sierra is the nurse, Jenna was the doctor with another girl who joined in the fun. It was hilarious watching them act it all out. Jenna doesn't know much about that, but Whitney and Sierra do, having 2 younger siblings.
We are sure grateful to the West family for letting us spend Thanksgiving weekend with them. We all had a memorable time, it's always fun to be able to spend time with family.

Merry early Christmas to me!

Chad let me have my Christmas present early this year (which is normally against his rule) He is big on not opening presents early :) So, as many of you know, for the last year I have been looking for something for this particular spot above the stairs. And I never could find something large enough that I loved that wasn't a fortune. But, we finally found it! Medford had a Real Deals, which I was thrilled to find out. If you have never heard/been to this store before it is a must for home decor. The store is only open 2 days a week, and the closest for those in the Seattle area would be Portland or Spokane. However, I love love love this store. So here is my early Christmas present:

The pic was taken from our front entry way. I just love it! Thanks to my hubby who risked standing on a stool on the stairs to be high enough to hang this. And to my sister in law, Sunni, who brought it to my attention at the store :)
And I had to include a pic of our Christmas tree, yet to be decorated. This year we sold out and bought a fake one, pre-lit. It was a killer deal on Black Friday, too hard to pass up. Although, I will miss going and cutting down a tree, it just makes more sense right now to have a fake one. We have started having Christmas morning at our house and then going to visit family. And for me, there was just something wrong with taking the tree down right after opening presents :) So, for now we like our tree and are enjoying not having to water and vacuum up needles. I also got a new tree topper this year (another great Black Friday find)
Stay tuned for Thanksgiving pics :)

I'm grateful for Gospel principles

I love teaching/watching Jenna understand more about the gospel. For a little while now, Jenna has been waking up most nights from having bad dreams. She's entered the afraid of the dark and monsters under her bed stage. There was a great article in this months Friend magazine titled "No bad dreams", followed by different ideas to help deal with them. We read this together earlier in the month, hoping that something would help. She of course includes in her prayers every night that she will have good dreams. So this morning, I asked Jenna how she slept, her response was "Good, I didn't have any bad dreams. Heavenly Father helped me." It was the sweetest to thing to hear. I am so grateful that she is beginning to understand that she has a Heavenly Father who loves her and is watching over her. Even though she'll most likely experience more bad dreams in the future, she will hopefully remember this experience and know how to cope with it.

Now we're ready for December

I finally finished our advent calendar! I started it last Thanksgiving, hoping to have it done before Christmas at least. Turns out felt is a pain in the butt to cut, especially little pieces :) I finally gave up the week before last Christmas. So this year it was on top of my to do list. I grew up with a matching one, that my parents still use. And gratefully she had kept the pattern. This was one of the traditions I wanted to pass on to my family. I have very fond memories of trying to wake up before my sister Gretchen and race to the calendar so I could be the one to move Mary and Joseph to the next number! Often it was a source of contention for us...ahh sweet memories :) I cannot explain how excited I am to have my very own. Thanks mom for letting me borrow the pattern for over a year and your felt box!

A new month.... a new shirt

Just finished Jenna's Thanksgiving shirt. Next up a Christmas themed one :)

Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween highlights:
-Jenna scooping goop saying "oooh slimy" being a total girl. Drawing her own triangles on the pumpkins and carving by herself
-Preschool party: getting to wear her costume to class
-Ward party: seeing church friends, fun carnival games and the popular trunk or treat
-Neighborhood party: playing with the other kids, pumpkin pinata, yummy ugly treats
-Trick or treating: Jenna did her best keeping up with the older kids in the neighborhood. She was literally running from house to house. I'm suprised she escaped injury free. Our friends the Singley's came by to share in the trick or treating fun. We were out for 1 hr. 40 min. By the end Jenna was dragging her bag behind her :) Chad counted almost 200 trick or treaters that came to our door.

We sure were grateful for that extra hour of sleep last night!

Pumpkin Patch

This year we picked out our pumpkins at the Carpinto Brothers pumpkin patch. We went after Chad got home from work, so we got to venture around in the dark :) It was a lot of fun. When I wanted to take Jenna's picture she would say "We love pumpkins" and give me a gigantic smile. I'm pretty sure she was having a good time! Jumping in the mud puddles was another bonus!

Girls Getaway 2009

I had a great time on our first annual Girls Getaway with some good friends from my last ward. 4 out of the 7 of us that attended have since moved out of that ward, but we have still made time to hang out. And I have to say how grateful I am for this particular group of ladies. They are amazing examples to me, I learn so much from them. I truly respect them as women, wives and mothers. So a huge thank you to each of them for making this outing so memorable.
Our getaway was complete with an adorable cabin near the beach, delicious meals and treats, staying up late chatting the night away (literally), a morning walk (2 ran) on the beach in the wind and rain, checking out the little shops in Westport, the sun finally making an appearance, and yummy fresh seafood. Just to name a few :)
Another big thank you to our wonderful husbands, who took care of the little ones and held the fort down so the ladies could have this time.
Can't wait until the next one :)

Tie-dye

Jenna's preschool recently tie-dyed shirts. What a great project. Here is Jenna's shirt:

We added the little bird for fun!

When I asked her how they did it, Jenna said-"My teacher put the shirts in a big pot, and stirred. Then it came out purple!"

The way it is

Jenna's new explaination for most things- "thats just the way it is"

Ex: Recently she has been having a lot of seperation anxiety in going to preschool and dance. Upon asking her why she feels sad, etc. (trying to come up with a solution) she tells us "that's just the way it is!"

Tummy talk

As Jenna was going to bed tonight, she was doing her usual stalling. She continues to say over and over "but wait, I have to tell you something..." And then she ends with "but I'm hungry". We usually can convince her that she does not need a snack. One of our convincing methods is "talking" to her tummy, and telling Jenna that her tummy "says" it is not hungry but ready for bed. However, tonight our method backfired. After "talking" to her tummy, Jenna asked to talk to my tummy. I agreed, and this was Jenna's conversation "hmmm...what's that tummy? you DO want me to have a snack!" I couldn't contain my giggles and caved. After her snack she "spoke" with my tummy again saying, "what's that? yes, my tummy is full now."

She is getting quite clever. Chad and I are in trouble already :)

Locks of Love

After being inspired by a few girls in our ward, we decided to cut Jenna's hair and donate it to Locks of Love! I was waiting for summer to be over, or better known as ponytail season :)

Here are a few before pics:

The back
And here are the after pics....

Tada, 10 inches of hair cut off!!!
Jenna was very brave the whole time, she was a little nervous at first but a sucker in each hand quickly took care of that :)
Here's a side view:

I think she looks pretty dang cute!! But then again, I am her mother!

Goodbye fun ponytail, you are off to make someone else happy!

http://www.locksoflove.org/ for more info.

Zebra cookies

Yesterday, after conference, Jenna helped Chad make "zebra cookies". They added white and milk chocolate chips. Jenna named them :)

Very yummy!

Saturday Hike

Yesterday Chad took us on a mini hike up Tiger Moutain. Jenna was well equiped with compass, magnifying glass and bug catcher :) Found a few slugs, beetles, lots of moss, and ferns.

Above is my attempt at a digital scrapbook page. Still figuring it out, so please bare with my shortcomings!

For all you Seattlites and parents of slug lovers, we have a great book for you to check out. "Rainy Day Slug" by Mary Pelenick Colborn. The author is from Port Orchard and the illustrator has added some popular Seattle attractions.

We hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

(for a larger view of the pics, just click on the image)

Fall = Craft time

A new season brings many new craft projects for me.

First, I glittered small pumpkins. I used Glitter Mod Podge for the first time. The glitter is subtle, but I wanted the color of the pumpkins to still show through. The look was exactly what I was going for. I also painted the stem dark brown (idea from Martha Stewart).

This is more the true color of the pumpkins. Below is a fun pic. of all three.
Second, a "wickedly cute" halloween t-shirt! This way Jenna can wear it all month long. She got to wear it to preschool last Friday since it's October now :)
I experimented with fabric glitter and was thrilled with the result. Jenna and I both love how sparkly it is! A little pumpkin on the back side makes the shirt complete.
Last but not least, my version of the popular wooden block signs. Using Mod Podge on paper was again, another first for me. Very addicting. I'm finding myself looking for other things I can Mod Podge now :)
Happy Fall Y'All!

Now I understand!

Growing up one of my chores, along with my sis. Gretchen, was weeding. Oh the dreaded weeding, that seemed never ending. For those of you that remember my parents last house, in Newman Lake, you understand how this was no small chore. My Dad was always there working along beside us though. I remember asking him one exhausting day, why he liked weeding so much. He was always out working in the yard (still does). He told me that one day when I had a house of my own, that I'd understand. I remember thinking, yeah right I'll never choose to weed. Well, that day has come. Though I still don't love it, the reward is much greater! There is just something about a newly weeded dirt bed that I can't get enough of. I have to confess that I keep checking out our yard :) So yes Dad, I finally understand. Thank you for dragging me out to weed, love you!

Little Chef

We bought this play kitchen off of Craigslist at the beg. of summer and just recently got around to fixing it up! It just needed a little TLC, and I just have to say how much I love spray paint :) It is so convient and it comes in so many diff. colors/finishes. We resprayed all the handles, sanded and sprayed the oven door. (it was too hard to find the right pink, as you can see on the headboard) I would still like to add a design to the headboard/backsplash. But Jenna loves it just the same. She is constantly "baking" now and makes delicious muffins and cupcakes!

Jenna modeling the kitchen in her pj's!! And yes, she slept in that whole outfit :)

The other night before bed, Jenna was "making" Chad and I some cupcakes. She held out Chad's and said "come hurry and eat it before mommy gets it!" We couldn't stop laughing. My daughter knows my sweet tooth all too well, even pretend food apparently.

Octopus!!

I Just completed my last 2 open water dives today. The weather was great again. One of the highlights was seeing an octopus that has been hanging out under an old sunken boat. It was a pretty good size too! We watched it for awhile, pretty amazing. I got to go down to 58 ft. today. 60 ft. is the most we are certified for. I thought it would be scary, but really once your under the water, everything seems the same. Except for the pressure :)

So, I am now scuba certified!! I really can't believe I did it. This is something I never thought I would do. But I am really happy that I did. Thanks Chad for talking me into it!!

Also, thank you to my good friend Kristin, who watched Jenna today while I did my dives! You are a lifesaver. Let me know when I can repay the favor :)

My first open water dives

OK, so here is a fun little recap of my morning. Chad and Jenna came along to watch and cheer me on. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Wearing the wet suit was a bit different. Pretty confining, took some getting use to. The first dive, we just did a few skills and then toured around underwater. The second dive we passed off a lot more skills and then toured around again. I had some trouble equalizing on the second dive, but fortunately worked it out.
Things I want to remember: It was really relaxing swimming around, looking at everything. It wasn't scary seeing different sized fish swim by. Very easily distracted by all of the plant life and animals underwater.
Things I saw: lots of starfish and sun starfish. A quite large and long Lingcod (type of fish), remains of an old boat, diff. types of sea anemones (metridium farcimen, I had to look it up), a whole fish skeleton (very odd), and a bunch of diff. small fish. Now I need to learn the names of the diff. underwater plant life and fish :)
I actually had a lot more fun than I was expecting. Looking forward to my last 2 certifying dives.

A week of firsts

First day of Preschool (second yr.)

When I picked her up from class the first thing she said was "Can we go to preschool again Mom?" She then told Chad over the phone "Preschool was great, I had a lot of fun!"

First day of Ballet class.
When I picked her up from her ballet class, she told me "I didn't like it." But then proceeded to tell Chad all night that she had fun. So, mixed feelings on dance. Which suprises me a bit. I took this picture after class though, so I think she had a little fun :)

My little girl is growing up fast! I sure hope I can keep up.

Scuba update

To be fair to Chad, I thought it would be nice to update everyone on how my classes are going.

I have actually been having a lot of fun. As I mentioned before, the first class was rough. And getting a cold hasn't helped out a whole lot. The second class I wasn't able to equalize my ears, due to having a cold. But I was able to pass off the skills in the shallow part of the pool.

Then this last Tues. I was finally able to equalize and do the skills at the bottom of the deep end. It is really quite the experience.

The funniest part is when, while underwater, the instructor signals to you "are you OK to do..." and then they signal a specific skill. And then you respond by giving them the OK signal and then perform the skill. But what I am really thinking is "NO, I am not Ok, but I don't really have a choice do I!"

I just have one more class and then 2 separate days of open water dives. Open water meaning out in the Sound. Honestly, I can't even imagine what the open dives will be like. I'm a little frightened. But, my dive instructors do such a wonderful job of making it fun that I am sure it'll be fine.

I've even started thinking of asking Santa for some dive equipment. I guess I am getting hooked!

fun site for kids

www.friend.lds.org

Has anyone else checked this out yet?

I just noticed it on the back of the Friend magazine for this month. Jenna has been having a great time with the puzzles :) Enjoy!

A little brag moment

This turned out so adorable, I had to share it. My sister Chelsea, who is a sophmore at BYU, just made this cake. She made it for my cousin Roseanne's baby shower. I can't get over how stinkin' cute it is! Good job Chels, your amazing :) Your turning into quite the crafty chick!

My new adventure

So as many of you know I was pursuaded, tricked, however you'd like to look at it, it wasn't my idea, into getting Scuba certified. Chad has been certified for 2 yrs. now and would love more than anything to have me be apart of that underwater world :) And since we are not pregnant and have no idea when that will happen I guess now is as better time than any.
I had my first class last night. It was a mix of classroom work and pool work. I was able to pass the skills in the water thus far. I didn't feak out and loose it, so I would consider it a good night. However, I was extremely exhausted afterward and a little sick to my stomach. I didn't eat much prior to the class due to nerves, very bad idea. I have 3 more classes/pool dives and then 2 open water dives in the sound.
The verdict is still out whether I will love this as much as Chad. I'll keep you all updated.

Saturday in Seattle

The kids play area at Woodland park was a blast! Jenna quickly made friends with some other girls and she was off sliding, climbing, having a great time. And then to top it all off we stopped at Trophy's cupcakes on our way home. I've been hearing how good their cupcakes are and they did not disappoint. We each got a diff. flavor and then shared. Jenna was hilarious eating her chocolate vanilla cupcake. She knows how to savor a cupcake. Licking off all the frosting first, then eating the cake part. Slowly, I might add. The couple sitting next to us was quite entertained.
I truly love my little girl, she makes me laugh everyday!

I want to be a missionary now...

Jenna has always loved to thumb through the pages of her Book of Mormon.

The other day, I went to check on her in the backyard and this is what I found.

Helping Emily turn the pages
reading to Emily, from her Book of Mormon
Making sure Emily can see the pages.

How cute is that! I had to take the pics through the glass door so I wouldn't disrupt the lesson :)
I was impressed at how long they both sat like this. They have really become great playmates.