Grandpa Jensen

Grandpa Jensen turned 80 years old in February so we had an awesome birthday for him on Saturday! The whole family was there along with lots of friends, neighbors, and many others that love and admire him. The party started with lots of good food!


Then we had a little magic show by Uncle Dale. Grandpa used to do magic shows for all the grandkids, church activities, and all sorts of other things. He passed that talent on to his son Dale, and now I think Chris might even be looking forward to learning the tricks of the trade. :) After the show Grandpa read us some of his cowboy poetry. I really love to hear and read the things that he's written because it seems to me to be a really unique way to keep your own personal history.

The last event of the party was when everybody got to choose from some of Grandpa's treasures. You see, Grandpa Jensen has a hobby of going to auctions and buying all sorts of crazy stuff. He seriously bought a box of extra large bikinis one time and gave it to Chris. I mean, what the heck?! Anyways, amidst all the crazy weird stuff he actually has some really cool stuff. He honestly has a room full of random items at his house and his wife kinda made him get rid of some things. We got some really cool stuff I think. Anyways, it was a really fun day and one of the best parts was hearing Grandpa bear his testimony. I love having such a big family that shares the gospel. I want that to be my family some day. :)

I really should write on here more often. But sometimes I feel like my life just doesn't keep up with all you guys that have kids and take sweet pictures all the time. But hey, I guess for the few of you who might care I'll just give a little update.

Christmas festivities were pretty awesome. It was really nice to have our first Christmas together and spoil each other a little. Then of course we went over to his mom's and got spoiled by her too. She bought all the kids a Wii! (And we've been playing Mario ever since! :)





Lets see, after that came a pretty difficult time for my mom and her family. My grandma was supposed to come to Utah for our wedding in June but was diagnosed with stomach cancer that very week. They gave her 6-8 months I think and on January 24 she passed away. My mom has a really big family and so it was pretty hard for everybody and still seems kind of unreal. Anyways, I got to go home to MI for the funeral and to be there for my mom. It was great to see everyone and to also get to spend some time with the family.



Other than that, life is pretty normal. Work is going great for me, and I also might have a softball coaching opportunity this year. I'm still crossing my fingers for that!! Chris is in the middle of searching for a new job so we're crossing our fingers on that one too, that it doesn't take too long to find what he's looking for. We're doing great, trying to stay healthy by eating better and going to the gym. Props to Chris for losing 20 lbs in only three weeks!!

This weekend we're going to stay in Logan for Valentines Day. I dont have to work on Monday and after all the stress of the past month, I'm excited to get away for our first Valentines Day! On that note, I have the best husband ever and I cant believe how perfect we are together. I'm grateful for and undeserving of him at the same time.



Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Lots of love,
*Ashley*

Christmas is in the air!!

I feel like we've been going non-stop lately! Work has been crazy with preparations for all of the year-end accounting stuff so I've been sooo busy. Thanksgiving was totally amazing, I'm so happy that I got to spend some time with family and be home on such a great holiday for the first time in the past 5 years. On the flip side, this is the first time I've ever celebrated a Christmas away from home. I'm really sad about missing our family's Christmas party and not getting to spend it with my Grandma when it will probably be her last one...but there are definitely so many reasons why I'm excited about this Christmas:

1) I'm really excited for our first Christmas in our home. I'm excited about spending Christmas morning with my husband and beginning our own family traditions.
2) I LOVE having a house to decorate! Granted, I don't go around putting something in every nook and cranny, but I love having our own tree with our ornaments, my own nativity set, yummy smelling candles, and a few others things.
3) I'm excited about taking part in my husband's family traditions and seeing how he's grown up celebrating Christmas.
4) NO traveling!! Seriously, getting back and forth between two of the snowiest states is extremely stressful sometimes. Last Christmas my brother and I were really close to spending the night in the airport in Minneapolis and I seriously had a nervous breakdown.
5) I'll hopefully get to talk to my brother!! (this is something I would get to do either way, but I'm still excited) Eric is on a mission in Boston since August and I'm excited to hear from him. I miss him a lot.

Here's a few pics from Thanksgiving and our Christmas decorations at home :)Some of my family celebrating Thanksgiving at my parents house

I LOVE my nativity set!!

Our kitchen table

My Grandma gave us this for Christmas this year

Our awesome tree and some presents!

Anniversary

So today is our 6 month anniversary!!! I feel a little bit lame every time I say that, but I still think it's a big deal. I can't believe it's been that long, I love us!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!

Christopher turned 26 on Saturday! We went out to dinner to Chili's with some our amazing friends and came back to our house to celebrate afterwards. Chris opened his presents from me at the party and got new shoes, Guitar Hero 5, and tickets to the Jazz/Raptors game on November 18! The cake follows the Jazz theme. I ordered from the wife of a friend of mine from work. Wow, I've never had cake so good! www.ladow.org/stacycakes So good!! In the pic below, you can see the guys playing GH. I love the intensity on TJ's face as he sings! haha

It was a great day to celebrate, and so fun for me to be able to surprise Chris with all my planning. :) I couldn't ask for a better husband!

Corn Maze!

Two weeks ago we went with our friends Benj and Amanda to a corn maze in Syracuse. It was a Team Edward vs. Team Jacob maze based on the Twilight movies. It was a little strange because it had no distinct beginning or end, but we did get lost pretty good a couple of times so that made it worth it. We had a lot of fun with them!

IT'S OCTOBER?!?

Where did the summer go? Wow, it's kinda been a while. Chris and I have been married for 4 months now! Yeah, yeah, that doesn't seem like a lot to most of you, but it's pretty exciting for us. Actually in just a few days is the anniversary of our engagement. I can't believe it's been that long. We're loving life though, staying busy and relaxing at the same time. Work is going well for me and I'm really enjoying what I do. Chris' job at New York Life finally got it's kickoff. It's something that takes a while to get the hang of, but he's working really hard at it and has done pretty well so far. Here's some highlights of the past couple months:

• We bought tickets to MI for Thanksgiving!! And I can't tell you how excited I am :)
• Chris broke his thumb playing softball and had to wear a cast for like 6 weeks. And this is kinda funny, the hair on his arm that was covered by the cast grows a lot faster now! haha
• Like I said, Chris has really started working his new job. I love seeing my professional husband all dressed up every day :) He's even fully equipped with a Blackberry, bluetooth, two new suits, and his own business cards! Anyone interested in life insurance?!?
• We've attended like 5 wedding receptions. Such is life in Utah during the summer I guess, right?
• Our condo has turned into a really homey place. We finally got it set up just the way we like it and we just love it here. And being able to decorate your own home is SO fun! (some pics below)
• My brother left on his mission to Boston. He left the MTC last week and we just got his first letter from the field today. He already baptized someone! (it made me cry! :)
• I've started scrapbooking our honeymoon pictures and it is so fun! I love having time do the things I love without worrying about homework anymore!
• etc., etc., etc.

Well, enough of that. Last night we carved pumpkins with our friends, Benj and Amanda and here's some pictures of that and of our cute Halloween decorations!