Random Summer Pictures

Grif & Rhett on the beach at Bear Lake

Milk anyone?

Dad and Lauren chillin' on the beach

Malachi & Lauren

Morgan the Maniac Bowler

The G-Dog in action

Peace out

Lauren & Baby Shae

The Jensen grandkids, minus Alexis & Jocelyn at Bear Lake

Aunt Lisa: "Tessie, what does Uncle Greg do to your cheecks"
Tess: "Pinch em'"

Morgan feeding the ducks at Layton Park

Rhett, Lauren, Morgan & Tess at Layton Park

Rhett, Lauren, Morgan & Tess swimming at Clearfield Aquatic Center

The three chica's

Sweet Lauren

Rhett & T-Bear

Morgan FINALLY lost her two front teeth. We were starting to call her Nanny McFee!

Greg & Shae

Rhett playing in the All-Star Game

Syracuse All-Star Team - National League

Bowler Rhett - All Talk

Beautiful Baby Shae

Shae McCauley Holfeltz

Look at this baby girl, she's just adorable. She's so smiley right now and she's possibly the best baby I've ever been around. Love her, love her, love her!

First Day of School 2009

Lauren, Rhett, & Morgan first day of school August 10, 2009

This year was especially difficult for me. My baby, Morgan, is now in the first grade. Needless to say, I lost it, right there at school. I just wanted to take her home with me. Going home to an empty house was not fun. For the past 11 years I've always had one or more of my kids with me. It really makes you cherish the times that you have with your kids. I miss them all so much. Luckily, the 7 hours they are gone to school does go by pretty quickly. It's a new chapter of sorts in my life. One that takes a little getting used to.

Tess and the Case of the Leopard Print Panties

This is my niece, Tess. Needless to say she has a very special place in my heart. You just can't help but love her. She is the definition of Miss Personality. I've been laughing about one of her antics from the other day and thought I'd share, thinking you may find it as hilarious as I did.

My sister Jacque and I were in Macy's Department Store shopping. There were no sales clerks in the children's department, so we had to take our purchases over to the lingerie department. As I was checking out, Tessie was roaming around as usual, when Jacque and I looked over to find Tessie in front of a merchandise scanner with a very large pair of womens leopard print panties. She proceeded to lift the panties up to the merchandise scanner and scan the tag over and over again. This sight was simply hilarious. Even the sales clerk was laughing. I don't know if this is one of those "you had to be here" scenarios, but it was gut-busting funny.

Now we understand why we haven't been able to interest Tessie in potty training. The Elmo panties are just not going to cut it...she needs leopard print! Can you say, we've got a diva in da house!

Silver Lakes Ward Primary Activity

As a counselor in the Primary Presidency in my ward, it was my turn to oversee this quarter's Primary Activity. I totally copied the idea for this activity from a ward in Layton. We adjusted it a bit to fit our Primary. We have over 150 kids (including nursery).

The theme, "Building my Eternal Family," comes from the new Primary song, "I am a Builder," and the scripture D&C 88:119. We had a great turn out, and I think the kids enjoyed it and hopefully took away the message about eternal families. We welcomed the kids with their own yellow construction hats with a building permit sticker on the hat. They received a sticker for each station. I introduced myself as Sister Builder (wearing a toolbelt holding items like the scriptures, good movies, church magazines, etc.) I told them I was looking for "builders" to help me learn how to build eternal families. We then sang the "I am a Builder" song and split into three different groups:
1) House of Glory, 2) House of Order and 3) House of Faith.

In the kitchen (House of Glory), we made Rice Krispy Treats and illustrated how our family members are like the bits of rice krispies and when they are combined with the marshmallow and butter mixture, they "stick" together, just as the temple binds us together as families.

In the House of Order we first discussed "The Family, A Proclamation to the World," and had a fun relay race in the gym. The kids were split into families of five (mother, father, brother, sister & baby). The father had to run down the court and put on his clothes (a white shirt and tie or a Fedex uniform) then proceed to "mow the lawn" with toy lawnmowers. The mother had to run down and put on her apron and race with the shopping cart, the baby had to run down and put on his/her bib and bottle and ride their big wheel to the finish line...and so on...you get the idea. We talked about how each of us have divine roles.

In the house of Faith we had a young man dress up as Captain Moroni with his title of liberty and tell the story. Then each child made their own title of liberty with the aformentioned scripture.

For the treat...there's got to be a treat, right? They each received a great big rice krispy treat.

Sweet Tessie

Tessie was able to spent some quality time with her Aunt Se Se and we had so much fun! She was so tired after a long day of playing outside that she cuddled up with me on the sofa and fell fast asleep!

Baseball X 3 = what were we thinking?

We signed up all three kids for baseball this year. It was pretty crazy! Rhett pitched this year and did really well. He made the All-star team and pitched a great game. Lauren played machine pitch and had a hit nearly every time she was up to bat. Morgan played T-ball was so fun to watch.

Morgan & Lauren's Dance Recital 2009

The family at the recital (Note how excited Rhett is to be at the recital.)

It's June and you know what that means . . . Life is BUSY! Lauren and Morgan had their Clytie Adams ballet recital at Weber State University on June 19th. We had a full day of rehearsal the day before and the performance the next day. The theme for this year was, "Utah." We had a little trouble getting Morgan's hair acceptable for the performance, but we did the best we could with short hair. Ironically, Lauren's class was instructed to wear pony tails, instead of the Clytie Adams Ballet preferred, "high ballerina bun."

The girls did a fantastic job and Jacque and baby Shae were able to attend, along with Grandpa and Grandma Jensen and Grandma Miller. Apparently it was against the rules for a baby to be in the crowd, which made Jacque very nervous, but she was able to see both of the girls perform.

"I'll Have the Chipper Chicken"

In this economy everyone is trying to stretch the almighty dollar, and I'm no exception. I'm trying to save money to put toward finishing our basement. My sister Jacqueline recently asked me how I can feed my family so inexpensively. The answer to being smart with your food money is simply to be aware and most importantly, planning.

I guess my parents should have given me a middle name like, "cheap," or "sale," or even "bargain." Ask any member of my family, and they will fully agree that I have a knack for finding great deals. What can I say, it's a gift. In fact my brother called me last week to tell me about this amazing sale they were having at Smith's Grocery Store. This was a joke of course because Gregory never even looks at sales, let alone grocery shops. He proceeded to tell me that he was sure that my heart starting beating quickly as soon as I heard him say the word, "sale." He has even told me he wanted to get me a shirt that had "Manager's Special" printed on it. What can I say, I do love a good manager's special.

Anyway, I promised my sister that I would share a few of my secrets. I really try to keep dinner under $10 for my family of five. Often, it's even less than $5. I'm not talking skimpy non-nutritious meals either. I pride myself in feeding my kids home-cooked healthy food. I always enjoyed having a home cooked meal each night by my own mother and I want to give that to my kids as well. This is NOT to say however, that like most mothers, I don't end up going to Wendy's drive thru after a hectic day. It does happen, more than I would like. I just hope that I have some sort of coupon to use, ie. Arby's 5 for $5. You get the drift.

Have you seen this guy on TV they call the Grocery Guru? He cracks me up. He comes with meals like a bag of salad with some Banquet Frozen dinners. Who even finds that appetizing? Not me.

I've decide that with kids it's best to be simple. This is not to say that we cater to our kids likes and dislikes. I have one child is who very picky, but she's learning to try new things.

My first step in planning my menu for the week is to look at the local ads and center my meals based on sale items. I like to look at Pinching Your Pennies website. You can print all of their deals online. Also, when it comes to meat, if I find a great deal, I buy in bulk. For example, about a month ago at Target they had 80/20 ground round hamburger for $1 a pound. It was regular $3 something a pound. I brought home over 20 pounds of hamburger that day. In addition, they were all packed in individual one pound packets, reading to be frozen. If you haven't discovered Target's meat department yet, I highly suggest it. All of their beef is "Choice" and I think the quality is outstanding. Target usually prices their meat very high, but they are known to frequently have "temporary-price reductions" in the meat department. In addition they commonly offer attached coupons for $2-5 dollars off of the reduced price.

So Jacko...this is for you. My $5 meal that my kids really love:

Hamburger Casserole (Note: This isn't low fat, but I did use lean hamburger and 99% fat free cream of mushroom soup.) I consider this a great comfort food meal. I loved this as a kid.

1 pound lean hamburger
1 packet onion seasoning mix
1/2 cup of bread crumbs or oatmeal
1 egg
1-2 teaspoons of worchester sauce
8 oz can of tomato sauce

Mix egg in a bowl and add onion seasoning, bread crumbs, tomato sauce and meat. Mix well together. Place meat mixture in baking dish (9X13 or something similar). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

4-5 large potatoes, boiled and then mashed (with a little butter and milk)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 can green beans, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup

After meat mixture has cooked, drain any fat off of the meat. Pour and spread evenly the cream of mushroom soup over the meat, then the green beans, then the mashed potatoes and sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake another 30-40 minutes on 350 degrees until it is heated thru and the cheese is melted.

My sweet Rhett

Rhett, Grif and Grandpa Jensen went Turkey Hunting for the weekend in May. Rhett was put in charge of working the turkey caller and ended up calling in a coyote!