Pictures

I finally added pictures to my last two posts....

Family Vaca - Hooray!

I am proud to say that the Jenson Clan (all six of us plus a child) went on our first family vacation since 1998! How pathetic is it to go 12 years between vacations? I know. We took off for a few days of sun and bliss to Lake Powell. We went back to our old school ways of camping rather than the houseboat days like we were used to. I have to say though, I absolutely loved it! We skied a little, wake boarded and surfed a little, and relaxed a lot! It was nice to see my parents finally take a break. Justin and I and our better halves have been fortunate enough to have gone to Powell multiple times since '98, but we definitely enjoyed toting along our parentals. I will post some pics some day. :)

Nixon and Miranda

Soaking up the rays

Chillin' in the beautiful canyons of Lake Powell

Our family

Nixon, like most kids, did not like his life jacket. I don't blame him!

Me and my sis-in-law

We had just climbed the giant sand hill

Jaks surfing

Me skiing

I have learned a good lesson this week. Never burn a bridge. Be the bigger person. Turn the other cheek. You never know what will come of your positive actions instead of stooping to a lower standard.

From March to August

I am not even going to start with the laundry list of reasons why I haven't blogged, or how it has been so long since I blogged, or say that I am going to start blogging more often (been there, done that). Tonight is just an update. An update on some fun moments in life over the past few months, and maybe someday soon I will post some pictures from all our fun. But for now....

The weekends in March consisted of racing motocross. Yey! I raced at one of my favorite tracks in good ol' Delta, Utah. Took home a second place trophie. Then it was off to Mesquite, Nevada. Mesquite was so fun, not only because the track is awesome, but because Jaks and Justin bothraced. For Justin, it was his first time racing in over seven or so years. And for Jaks, it was his first race EVER. I was so proud of them both. They did so good. And this time, we had some additions to our fan club to cheer us on: Nixon and Miranda, as well as Grandma Jenson and Great-Grandma Pearl.

Justin, Jaks, Me, and Dad

Justin

Jaks

Me

Next...10 days in Paris! Need I say more? It was an unbelivable vacation. My first trip to Europe. Mine and Jaks' first trip alone (no family, no freinds) since we our honeymoon!!!! (Unless you count a weekend to Vegas. Pathetic, I know.) So many fun things to see and do, great food, and most of all, WONDERFUL company! Jaks is quite a die-hard traveler! Favorite part? Pain au fromage (cheese bread!)~~I know, weird coming from the girl who hates cheese!~~from "our" bakery. We stopped their every morning on our way to the Metro. Also loved being on the towers of Notre Dame when they rang the infamous bells. The largest one is only rung twice a year, easter and Christmas, and we were on the top of the tower when it happened! Also loved watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night with its thousands of twinkling lights right from our hotel window. Museums, shopping, food (of course), segway tour, boat tour, more food, cathedrals, first-class seats, hundreds of pictures, many laughs and good times later...we had the best time! So lucky to have been able to finally go. Thanks for the amazing Christmas present, babe!

The amazing landscape of Paris

Sacre-Coure Basilica, a Roman Catholic Church

My Traveling Mate

In front of Hotel de Invalides

This was out first day in Paris. Of course, we went to see the Eiffel Tower!

The gardens at Versailles, the most amazing chateau!

I loved this time of night there is Paris. It was beautiful just after the sun set!

And what did I do a week after our return from Paris??? Another vacation. This time with my girlfriends! One of the best trips I have ever been on, the best girls' trip I have ever been on. Me and seven other gal pals (Katrina~my roomie :), Lindsay, Krystal, Shante, Kaitlin, Megan, and Carly). Definitely missed our girls who couldn't make it! What is better than a week-long cruise from Florida, porting in Honduras, Grand Cayman, Mexico, and Princess Cays??? Not much. I can't decide what was best: hanging out by the pool and beach in the hot sun for seven days, our adventures on zip lines and vespa scooters (in a hail storm :)), all-night dancing escapades at Sky Walker club, crazy dance-offs with strangers (Go Ted!) that left us rolling on the ground until 3 AM, hilarious videotaping that I HAVE TO post one of these days, 20-course meals nearly every night, "girl talk" 24 hours a day, and much more! Thanks for the last minute idea, Meg! And thanks to all my girls who made it the time of our lives! :)

Sting Ray City, Grand Cayman

Our Cruise Ship

Our first formal dinner night

Soaking up the sun rays as we set sail

My roomie, Katrina

Off to an excursion in Mexico

Celebrating Kryt's 23rd Birthday!

At the beach in Honduras

Riding the zip lines through the tropics of Honduras

Jazmine, the monkey

Us with our servers for the week

Dancing at the Skywalker Night Club

The food was amazing on the cruise!

Our Vespa adventure in Mexico

What a fun vacation!

Straight from the airport to Rice Eccles Stadium to watch the AMA Monster Energy Supercross with the fam, in the rain! maybe even a little snow!

The next weekend to Vegas to compete in the Mini Moto Supercross at the Orleans Arena. Some bad luck, but raced well. No injuries, no falls, which is always my hope. We camped out in our Ritz on wheels. :) I definietly had an amazing pit crew that weekend! Also went to the final AMA Supercross race in Vegas. Not as fun without Chad Reed competing. I don't ever lust after many guys, but Chad Reed is one of them, and yes, Jaks is fully aware!

Nixon loves motorcycles

What a cute little family!

Getting ready for my main event

Love this little pit bike

It was really fun to camp out this time instead of staying in a hotel

Nixon loves his grandpa's hat and glasses

Nixon's headphones to block out the loud motorcycles

May was filled with "house drama". In a nut shell: found our "dream house" that we had been searching for for a year, offer accepted, house mysteriously goes to auction, house sold back to bank, Jaks and Jen walk away without the house but check the MLS for its listing 3 times a day for over a month (pure dedication and persistance:)), house goes back up for sale, Jaks and Jen offer next morning, offer excepted 1 day later, six weeks later.....Jaks and Jen move into their first home!!!! So exciting. More about that later.

After 5 1/2 months of strict training, I ran in my first race in June, Ragnar! 188 miles from Logan to Park City, a team of 12 hot chicks that placed 21 out of some 200+ all-women teams. Thanks to Lindsay, my "coach" for all of our Saturday runs, torturous speed training, and endless motivation. Definitley hard. Despite all my training, I still felt unprepared for the experience. I loved all the opportunities I had to run with my best friends though. I loved the challenge, and I loved the feeling of accomplishment that came after. I wish I could say I kept up the 25 miles a week of running, but I haven't! A bummed knee and a missing toe nail (gross, I know. Jaks calls it my nub!) is all I have to prove of it now. Can't wait for next year, girls! Already signed up for team Sweet Cheek's second debut!

My support system at the finish line

Flowers... My favorite!

Sweet Cheeks finishing in 21st place (out of hundreds of teams), not bad!

Awesome team mates...

Victory! 188 miles and about 30 hours behind us!

Some of the beautiful terrain we ran through

Van 1, (from the left) Christy, Kaitlin, Sarah, Jenica, Heather, and Amy

My grandparents came to watch me finish my last leg

My van buddies (and you can see our awesome van in the background)

My BFs who were all part of the team (Kelsie, Sarah, Kaitlin, Carly, Megan, Lindsay, Jenica)

Both vans meeting up at the exchange point

Van 1 starting their seconds legs, running through the night

My first leg, all up hill in the heat of the afternoon

Getting ready to cheer on our team mate, Christy, after she finished a big hill

Kaitlin and me at the starting line, Day 1

The rest of June and into July was occupied with "Parade stuff". That's right, second year directing the Draper Days Parade. Was it more fun the second year? Not really. Will I do it again next year? Probably not. I would have never guessed how much work, how many long nights, it takes to plan a parade. And no matter how much preparation goes into it, you always have issues the morning of the parade. If I am trying to be optimistic though, it was a good learning expereince. I couldn't have done it without my family: Jaks, dad, mom, Miranda, Justin, Beejer, and new this year to the helpers, Jeri and Jedd! What a wonderful committee!

Also in July, I hung out with my dear friend, Carrie Underwood. :) ha ha She is my fav! Besides Destiny's Child when I was in middle school, I have never been super obsesed with a music group/singer this much. I LOVE her. Her voice is like silk. Her look is flawless. I want to be Carrie Underwood! She performed at the Stadium of Fire. Kelsie's brilliant idea (I can't believe I didn't think of it myself) was to sneak down to the field and try to get up to the front of the stage. So, we ditched our husbands, her sweet little one, and the rest of our friends, to figure out a way to get through security. Solution: run, run fast.....and don't look back! We made it. All the way to the eighth row! After basically yelling out the words to all of our favorite songs as we so ecstatically jumped up and down like giddy 13-year-olds at a Miley Cyrus concert, we ran back to sit with our group just in time for fireworks. Splendid night!

End of July and into August: pure excitement as we closed on our house and moved in! We have lived there for a week now and have enjoyed every second of moving and organizing. It has been so fun! I will not deny how sad I was the night we pulled away from the carriage house (my parent's guest house we have been living in since we got married 4 years ago) with the last batch of our clothes and toiletries. The guest house was where our marriage started, where we enjoyed the excitement of being newlyweds, where we experienced the hard times of being full-time college students with full-time+ (is there a term for being more than full-time?) jobs. We were so blessed to have such a wonderful place to call home, to have such a great ward to be a part of, to have such generous next-door neighbors (you know who you are, mom and dad)! We could not have been able to buy such a beautiful home without having a place like that to live so we could save up. Although I was so sad to go, there is so much excitement ahead of us. It is time for us to spread our wings and move on to the next step in life. I love our home. I love Jaks, and I am so grateful for the countless blessings we have received in our lives, and especially during the last few months.

Packing up the last of our stuff at the guest house, trying to pretend like I hadn't been crying :(

Our first home. :)