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!

Vince turns 5!

This time 5 years ago I was impatiently waiting for Vince to come into the world. I was anxious about having a VBAC. I'm grateful I did and got to experience it. However, after having 2 VBACS now and tearing so badly with both, a C-section recovery really isn't so bad...

Vince started preschool at the Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church downtown just one block north of Forsyth Park on Tues. Jan. 6. It is a beautiful historic building- built in 1890. It is Gothic architectural style with it's tallest spires 196 ft high. His teacher is the Primary President in our ward, Miss Becki or Sis. Riquelme, depending on the day :)

He is doing so well and I know we made the right decision to put him in. Just goes to show that every child is different and you need different things at different times. I homeschooled Azure for both preschool and Kindergarten and wouldn't have imagined that I would be putting Vince into a private preschool. It definitely helps that we are financially able to afford it, which was not an option when Azure was 4 (huge blessing).

Before preschool he was writing his capital Es with 5 or 6 lines instead of 3. I didn't make a big deal about it. It was actually kinda cute. Reminded me of some kind of arthropod. At Miss Becki's suggestion, he started making lowercase e's in his name but, they were unrecognizable. Around this same time he started having trouble writing a c, though he was doing fine before this.

I had him practice when he got home but, he still couldn't figure it out. So, we tried writing in salt to "spice" things up ;)

That did the trick for e's right away but, took another week or two to master c's. He's doing great!

Vince: "Mommy, when I'm a Dad, I'll always call you."

"Is this a deal? We can play Mario Kart 8 after we clean our room."

Saturday we had his birthday party at Forsyth Park. They recently finished a new fenced in playground and it was perfect. He requested Ninja Turtle theme. We bought pizzas from Little Ceasars, had a veggie tray, cheese sticks, mini water bottles and cake. It was fabulous. Colton and AJ came from church, and 2 other new friends from preschool- Thad and Luke. I'm so happy that he's making new friends and gaining more confidence.

The weather was a bit cold- about 50 degrees with some slight wind. And, since we set up our table in the shade it felt even colder. This has felt like an unusually cold winter for Savannah. Can't wait for it to warm up!



Age 4 has been a really big year for Vince! He’s learned to use the toilet and was completely potty trained w/ only a couple accidents a week right after turning 4. He’s learned to get himself dressed and undressed (thanks to OT), learned how to go up and down the stairs the correct way- alternating legs (thanks to PT), learned how to ride a balance bike, he learned to unbutton and button up his shirts, he learned how to buckle himself in the carseat (in Aug), still can’t unbuckle, though. Still waiting for that. He learned how to write his name! That came out of the blue, I think the first time he did it was when we were sitting in the foyer during Sacrament meeting on the magnetic writing board maybe in Aug or Sept? And, he started going to preschool! What a big boy! Such a big year for him!

He's hilarious, loyal, affectionate, and quick to forgive. He was 9 days "late", which makes perfect sense with his personality. He's been teaching me to slow down and learn to wait and accept God's timing and his own. His future wife is a blessed woman, for he loves purely with all his heart just like his Daddy.

Today for his actual birthday he requested that we put a wrapped present in his room. So, I wrapped up mini cereal boxes so he could pick one for breakfast. Last night we made cupcakes so he could bring them to class. When Charlie got home we went to Chick Fil A for dinner and as we walked through the door Vince saw the picture of the founder and asked, "Mommy, what prophet is that?" So funny!

They played for awhile, then we opened gifts, played with a new video game Charlie bought for him, sang him Happy Birthday again with his leftover cake and with candles this time (I forgot to bring them to the park Sat). Then we watched the slideshow I made for him for his 1st birthday. Long day, but tonight he said, "This was the best birthday ever." Then it was all worth it. Love you sweetie boy!

Preach My Gospel

Two weeks ago Charles, Azure and I began studying Preach My Gospel together since she will be getting baptized in 6 months!!!

We spent about 20 mins or so reading about the Restoration and the nature of God. She looked up all the scriptures and we shared some experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt like we should definitely be doing more of that together.

The next day she woke up and said, "Mommy, I feel really good now that we are studying that together." It was so sweet! My heart is always so touched when I can see and feel the Spirit working in our lives as we try to teach our children the gospel. These are moments I want to always remember. She recognizes the spirit and that studying the scriptures made her feel good! I love that she is vocal about it too, or else I wouldn't have known.

Love her sweet holey smile! She is still the best big sister and helps so much around the house. I never have to get on her to do her homework. She is so independent, she does it all on her own, usually is done before Thursday night. I make her lunch probably once a week and she makes it herself the other days. I really don't think I would be capable enough to have more children if she hadn't been born first. The Lord knew that :)

Zekiel's 2!

I know everyone says, "I can't believe my child is [this new age]!" But, for realz. 2. It's been a rough year with lots of screaming. I'm sure my hearing is permanently damaged. Screaming kids makes me lose it. It's been a long 7.5 yrs. I've got a perma scowl to prove it :( Sigh. Lots of wanting to be held only to be put back down a million times this past year. Lots of diaper changes. Do other people's kids poop 3 times a day?! I need to stop feeding my kids healthy food!

But, oh the joy! This boy and his infectious smile and his sweet tender voice (his real voice, not the shrieks). And, his blonde, curly locks. He is my favorite. How does one drive you completely mad yet, enrapture you with loyalty and self-sacrifice? Motherhood is such a maddening yet exalting role. So demanding. So fulfilling. I'm not sure if I will ever understand all the many intricacies. Oh, how we need each other- parent and child.

And, he was born on Christmas day. It's interesting people's responses when I tell them that. "Oh, I'm so sorry." I just smile. How to explain that this child's conception and birth were a true miracle? And, that I lost him, but he came back to me. Every Easter and Christmas I get to reflect on that. The Lord truly fulfills His promises. I'm grateful I have such a tangible reminder of that.

Here are some of my current favorite Zekielisms: booda (butterfly), weewoah (raining), shoozah (shoes or more accurately shoes on), yeh-yo (yellow). He says "mazing" and points outside so I'm not sure exactly what that means.

80% of the time I can count on him to throw something away for me if I tell him, "Go put it in the trash." He continues to call poop "boot" which we still think is hilarious. Recently he's been dragging the chair to the fridge so that he can reach the magnets.

A few weeks ago he climbed out of his crib for the first time. I think it scared him so he hasn't done it since. He's definitely not ready to sleep in a bed yet so I hope he can stay in a crib at least for the next 6 months or so.

Recently he's been very interested in blocks, the same ones we bought Azure right around this same age that she loved so much. It's fun to see him play with them. He calls them "boks".

He hasn't been napping very consistently anymore so the days he refused to nap, we just put him down to sleep around 6pm. A few nights this past week he fell asleep at 5:30pm and woke up at 9:30am! I'll definitely take that over taking a nap! We're trying to keep this streak going :) Parenting is so much easier if your children sleep 16 hrs a day!!!

 Christmas frolicking

 Grinch (spinach) pancakes for the birthday boy

He loves seeing himself on the camera

 Getting ready for our annual Christmas caroling at Hospice on Christmas Eve

My 3 beautiful babies!

Look at those curls and that tongue!

Family Home Evening with no pants

This is where his craziness comes from :)

Sweetest babe!

He sure does wear us out, but we love him so much and are so grateful for our Christmas miracle baby!

These pics are from our photo shoot back in September at Tybee.

Or, maybe he gets his craziness from me ;)