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.