The Jensens move back West

2015 has been a whirlwind so far. In January Charles was contacted by St. Luke's Health System in Boise, ID about the position he applied for 3 years ago after his residency. It was available again and they offered to fly him out for an interview.

Sometimes you don't get to see why things don't work out, but it's been a blessing to know that 3 years ago when this job didn't work out the first time, the Lord was preparing Charles to take it in the future.

We found out in February that he had been accepted for the position and we have been preparing to move ever since.

We left Savannah on Tues morning March 31st and got to Boise around 9:30pm on Easter Sunday April 5th.

I love change and new adventures, but moving is hard. It's hard to say goodbye to the things you love- like warm humid air enveloping you almost constantly. Beautiful green live oaks, friends you can call up last minute to come babysit your kids (Shelly).

It's hard living on the road and in hotels for almost 2 weeks. It's been hard on Azure and Vince. They were used to their school schedule going to bed and waking up early. Now, we have no schedule and are all over the place spending most of the day in the car or in the hotel. Vince has been so defiant and it breaks my heart. I've never seen him act like this before- talking back and misbehaving so much. Where did my sweet boy go?!

Such a wide range of emotions. I also found out on my birthday that my 7 week pregnancy was no longer. I had been waiting to bleed to pass it on my own and was afraid I'd have to schedule a D&C as soon as we got to Boise having no insurance yet. Gratefully the Lord answered my prayer and I started bleeding on my own Sunday night as soon as we got to our hotel.

It has been rough, yet we also feel so blessed. I almost got hit by a car in El Paso, but the car stopped just in time. Shelly, our friend from Savannah drove out with us and helped us with the kids. Cammen, my freshman roommate met up with us in Louisiana and bought us breakfast. Caleb, Charles' brother let us stay at their house and cooked us an amazing dinner. Another friend of ours from Savannah let us stay with them in Thatcher, AZ and cooked us breakfast.

Best friend status: taking care of all of my kids :)

Cousins playing soccer

Me & Cammen: 16 yrs of friendship

I got to see Randa, my MTC companion on the exact day, April 3rd, that we entered the MTC together and met. It had been 13 years!! She would have housed us as well but, we went and stayed with Miah in Yucca.

And, then it "just so happened" that we ended up at my in laws on Easter Sunday and got to celebrate with them and Jon and Erin and their kids. Our children got to see all their aunts, uncles and cousins minus Jen and Zed who's on his mission in Finland on the Jensen side during our cross country road trip.

No Easter dress- she lost 2 cardigans on this trip

Monday we started looking for places to live and on Wed we decided on one, applied and got accepted. We're grateful it only took 3 days. We get to move in tomorrow!

Another one of my old roommates lives here in Boise and she watched Azure and Vince for a few hours to quell their boredom and give Charles and I a break from their bickering (something they're only begun to do frequently the past few months). I have been messaging a girl that I'm in a Facebook group with, whom I've never met, yet she offered to watch our kids and feed us dinner. We finally met her tonight and the kids loved jumping on their tramp and playing in their backyard. My in laws have been watching Zeke all week so we could find a place without his shenanigans. (Though Azure & Vince definitely made up for his shenanigans while he was gone!)

I'm constantly relearning in my life that there really are silver linings to everything. It's such a testament to me of God's goodness. There are countless blessings if that is what you're focused on. That doesn't mean that life will always be happy, easy, or good, but for one door God closes, He truly opens another, or at least a window. I praise His goodness!!

{New Boise sights}

Lake Lovell

Only 13 mins from the temple instead of 3 hrs!!!

Such gorgeous Spring colors!

Cafe Rio!

The rest of May

Azure figured out how to play a part of the Backyardigans theme song by ear! She's been taking lessons since Feb every other week and has done quite well. Though, she has fought me and begged to quit her lessons. Oh, the battles with this one! Her teacher is wonderful and comes to our home for lessons. How awesome is that?! I hear her asking Rhonda for more theory homework and then later she'll tell me she wants to quit. It's been interesting helping her understand her own feelings. She has been very bi-polar about it. She's also told me that she wants to play in Sacrament meeting and then the next day she said she wants to stop taking lessons when she turns 6 (this was before her bday). Any insight? Oh, and this is a little after she got her summer haircut by our great friend Kate.

One Saturday we decided to be tourists and explore downtown since it had been awhile that all of us had been down there together.

St. John's The Baptist Cathedral. I got to perform in here twice- Oct. and Dec. 2009 with the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus. So grateful for that. There isn't a temple in Savannah, but, I can go here for my sanctuary. We really want to go to Mass here sometime. I hope we can make it happen.

I'm really glad we did the matchy-matchy for Memorial Day since Charles was not here for the 4th. Love these cuties!

On Memorial Day we braved the crowds and headed to Hilton Head with the VanYperens. Daddy is the fun parent. He will pull them on the boogie board and swim with them at the beach. I am usually sitting under an umbrella talking to a friend and I just let the kids play. I aspire to be a fun parent like Charlie :)

Vince has surprised me. I thought he was going to be jealous and resentful towards Zeke. He has been so loving and affectionate, constantly doting on him. He has such a tender heart. He's so loyal and loving. His wife is one lucky woman- he will love her with all his heart. Just like his Daddy :) And, yes we pray for their future spouses. So funny to hear Azure and Vince say, "Please bless my future husband, wife." Of course, when Vince says that he is repeating me. He has yet to say his own complete prayer at almost 3.5. He always needs help saying something and mostly just laughs. It's been interesting...

Florida

May was fun! We decided to have a 5 de mayo par-tay with the Saavedras. Since Brian's bday was a couple days before we made it into a bday party. Charles bought him a Hello Kitty pinata.

On Tues. May 7th we headed down to Orlando for Charles' annual Infectious Disease Pharmacy Conference. Last yr Charles' parents came down with us and we went to Disney World. This year we decided to go to the Nickelodeon Water Park Resort. It was a lot of fun. We didn't tell the kids we were going so they were very surprised and excited about it.

We stopped in St. Augustine for a night and looked around Flagler College. So gorgeous.

And, of course, we stopped for my favorite dish that I've been thinking about for the past 3 yrs. Yum!

Florida beaches are so superior to GA beaches!

And, then we arrived...

 I LOVE babies! I really do. I used to not. But, the more babies I have, the more I just love them. Toddlers not so much, but, babies yes :)

He is so adorable! I can hardly stand it!

 Meeting the TMNT has started a new obsession for Azure and Vince. We watched some old clips together on youtube, but they are a bit too violent for my liking. However, we all sing the theme together at least a few times a week.

 Here's Vince singing some of it: (Loooook! The first video I'm posting in like 3 yrs!!! This is huge!)

We got to squeeze in a trip to the Orlando temple while we were there, switching off like usual. So beautiful. The Columbia, SC temple is one of the smaller ones, so it's always nice to go in a big one and really feel the grandeur of God. This one has a stained glass of the Sacred Grove in their chapel that I just love.

And, we also stopped at our favorite Cuban restaurant in Orlando. Always nice to go to bigger cities and eat food we don't get much of in Savannah. Mexican! Cuban! I made it a point to eat every 2-3 hrs on this vacation and felt so much better doing so. We also were very conscious of the protein/carb balance of the meals we ate and we felt a lot more patient with the kids b/c we were eating food that didn't make us feel like crap. It also helped that we prayed specifically over and over again to be patient with them. It was one of our best trips! We only had 1 incident which for us is very good.

We certainly couldn't pass up IKEA! Charles miraculously fit 2 HUGE boxes in our car- this bunk bed and a dresser for Azure. They've been sharing a room since Good Friday. That was when we decided to put Zeke in the crib in his own room. Vince was just sleeping on the floor on a sleeping bag for awhile. Then, we got a mattress for him but, he'd end up on the floor anyways.

At the Nick Hotel, Vince slept in a bed for the first time (it was a bunk bed). I can't believe he had still been sleeping in a crib almost 2 months past his 3rd birthday, esp since Azure stopped about 2 months after turning 2! I think he fell off it the first 2 nights. We would find him on the floor in the morning or under the bed.

It has been really tender hearing them giggling and playing together now that they have this bed. It is forging memories for them that I hope they will always remember. I love it! A couple weeks ago I sang the "Hello Pillow" song to Vince but, realized he didn't have a pillow. I changed that right away! I first made this song up for Azure I think around March 2011. It is sung to the tune of "Hello, Hello" from the Children's songbook.

Hello, Pillow. Hello, Pillow.

It’s time to go to sleep (goodnight)

Hello, Pillow. Hello, Pillow.

It’s time to close your eyes.

And climb inside your warm, snuggly bed and put your pillow underneath your head.

Hello, Pillow. Hello, Pillow.

It’s time to go to sleep. Goodnight!

Charles is planning on running his 2nd marathon in Nov so, Azure has gone with him a few times on his runs. He drops her off after a couple laps around the block and then keeps on going.