8th Anniversary

We had just gotten back from our trips and we almost chose to just stay home, but at the last minute we decided we needed to go do some celebrating for our anniversary. I asked Haley (who had also just gotten back from the trip the day before) if she could manage another little jont our way to watch our kids so we could go out, and she and Brain were so kind to come to our rescue! We went to eat at this little restaurant in an old train car called Monterosso's. We loved what we ate there. Then we went to the new Superman movie that we both really loved. Since we had been apart the week before it was really nice to go spend an evening out together to celebrate our anniversary.

Eight years is starting to sound pretty serious! It has been a really awesome eight years!

Neal's Homecoming

 We went to the family reunion on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon we drove from Boise to Dillon, MT to my cousin Neal's mission homecoming. We were thinking we were a little crazy to do so much driving all the over, but we did not regret it! I love spending time with my family! We had so much fun there. Neal spoke with his two brothers Boyd and Spencer and did all gave really great talks. It sounds like Neal was really a great missionary. He went to Mexico and he told us he never spoke English there. We could tell because he had a crazy Mexican accent still. :)

 Darcy and Ezra having fun on the trampoline.

 My cousin Allison and my Uncle Alan playing "Say, Say oh Playmate." (I was surprised to find out as a kid that my dad knew this game too.)

 I was pleasantly surprised to see that Neal knew it too. :)

 We played a few serious rounds of musical chairs.

 The boys, and Ashley rode four wheelers a little bit.

 My grandparents watching their crazy posterity. In my grandma's patriarchal blessing it says that she will be the mother of a great people. So my cousin Lainey put together this big map with pins in all the places our family members have served missions or served in the military. They presented it to them here and they loved it.

 Darcy being brave showing Ezra that it's really ok to pet the dog.

What everyone wanted to do at the end of our adventures.

Jensen Family Reunion

 This year the kids and I went to the Jensen family reunion in Boise. Drew was on a work trip in DC. We were sad he wasn't with us, but we did have lots of fun with my mom's side of the family.

Ashley stayed in our hotel room with us, and it was really nice for me to have her help and of course my kids always love to have her around. She slept with Darcy. I had a pack n' play for Ezra to sleep in, but the little mattress part is really warped. I thought it seemed like it would be really uncomfortable so I didn't have the heart to put him in it, and he slept with me for the first time in his life. He is a crazy sleeper!! He moved all night long. Every night when he would get in bed he would go crazy running around the bed and laughing and being silly. The first night he was being silly and I finally told him he needed to lay down. He did lay down but he just couldn't lay still. He squirmed and squirmed until eventually he flopped over and laid on his back with his head on my chest. After a minute there he was fast asleep. I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud. I feel sorry for his future wife. Haha.

 My crazy sleeping buddy who loved his first hotel experience.

 Darcy is finally (now that she is almost four) starting to be a good sleeper. She would keep sleeping in the mornings even when the rest of us were up making noise. 

 We went to the Boise zoo the first morning and got to see some cool animals. We also ran into a friend we grew up with in Mattawa which was a crazy coincidence. Matthew is a real animal lover unlike my kids. I thought this picture of him with his face pressed up against the glass was so funny.

 We paid a little extra to go feed the giraffe. They gave us some lettuce to feed him. Darcy refused to feed him. I fed him some lettuce and then put some in Ezra's hand and held his hand up to the giraffe's mouth. He was fine until right as the giraffe took the food from him, and then he lost his mind! He was horrified about what had just happened and wanted to get away fast. 

 Most of the group at the giraffe encounter. If you look closely you can see Ezra's horror.

 This was probably the best part for my kids. The fake animals. :) 

 Here we are with the red panda. For not being much of an animal lover myself, I have to admit that little guy was pretty cute!

 With the lions.

 The reunion was at my Aunt Karen's house and she had an awesome little spot in her back yard for the kids to play in the dirt. Darcy got to play with my cousin's little girl Brynne and she loved her to pieces. We are excited that they will get to see each other again pretty soon at Emily's wedding.

 The group eating and talking.

 The last day we went to this little lake that someone turned into a little beach area and my kids loved it there! Darcy had so much fun in the water.

 Cute little beach comber.

 Matthew and Ezra playing in the sand.

 My grandparents at the beach.

 There was a park right there and Matthew and Ezra had fun with the steering wheels.

 Ezra was determined to swing on this hot swing.

 I thought this facial expression was funny.

 Ezra and my Grandpa enjoying their apples. Ezra loved that stroller and wanted to push it everywhere.

 Darcy wrote this in the sand and we sent it to Drew since we weren't with him on Father's Day.

As we left the reunion these two crashed immediately from all the action.

We also went hiking on the second day but all those pictures are on my mom's camera. It was a fun hike, but I spent the second half carrying Ezra because he was too tired. I was pretty tired by the time we got to the top too. Darcy did awesome and hiked most of the way with a few little piggy back rides from Nick.

We had so much fun visiting my family and I am reminded again and again how blessed I am to be a part of such amazing families and for the good people that make up those families. I am so lucky to have so many great examples and so many people who love me and my little family and who make us better and happier.

Darcy's Dance Recitals

 Darcy's dance class was a tap and ballet combo class, so she had two recitals. It got a little crazy with all the rehearsals, but ultimately I loved watching my girlie up on the stage. She had some pretty rough moments when I had to leave her with the backstage babysitters, but when she got to performance time she did great.

 Hanging out in the hall with her class at dress rehearsal.

 Final bow at dress rehearsal.

 We had lots of family come to support Darcy and we were so grateful for that. My family had to cut out early to go to Ashley's piano recital, but I got this one picture of Darcy with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen who brought her a balloon. She looks kind of crazy in this picture, but it's the only one I have. :)

 Drew, Ezra, and I with our little dancer.

 Here she is ready for her tap recital.

Here she is after the recital with her cute little dancer friend Tessa.

Thoughtful

Darcy has been really amazing me lately with how thoughtful she is. I wanted to jot this story down before I forget.

Last week was a rough week and at the end of the week I hit my breaking point. I was trying to hold on to any patience I had left, but there really wasn't much. I was trying (and failing for the 100th time) to get Darcy to stay in her room for quiet time. When she came down for the nth time I told her she had to go up to her room again and that she couldn't come down until she had put away her pile of folded clothes. She started whining and I reminded her that Ezra was up there sleeping and she needing to be quiet. That didn't work at all. In fact she got a little louder. I rushed up there but I was too late. Ezra started crying, and I got really mad at her. Yuck. I regretted my reaction immediately, but I was still pretty mad. I told her she now needed to put away her clothes and pick up all the pennies on her floor and put them back in her piggy bank. She was sad about it, but did get to work. After a while I realized I hadn't heard the pennies clink in her piggy bank for a while and I wondered what she was up to. I finished a couple things downstairs and decided to go check on her. I walked up into her room, and I was completely floored to find her putting away the last of her toys. She had made her bed, put away her clothes, picked up the pennies, and put away all of her toys. She had gone above and beyond and cleaned her whole room! I gasped as I walked in and she ran over to me to give me a hug with the biggest smile on her face. She said, "I wanted to make you happy!!" I told her thank you a million times. I was so amazed that she had been so thoughtful and sweet. She is 3!

A few days earlier we had surprised Nick and cleaned his pickup when he was home for memorial day, and while we did it I talked to Darcy about doing service and how it makes us feel happy to do nice things for other people. After she had cleaned her room I told her how happy I was, and I said, "Doesn't it make you feel happy to do something so nice for someone?" She said, "Yeah...Hey! I did service!!"

It was a day I consider one of my worst, but I also think of it fondly because it was one of her best.

I am so grateful for my thoughtful girl.

"May"hem

I had a bunch of random pictures on my camera from May to share.

 We took the roller coaster out of its box again and I put the kids in it which they thought was so fun.

 They had a tea party at Darcy's dance class a couple weeks ago that the kids got to dress up for. 

 All the cute dancers at their tea party. 

 Most mornings Ezra is so happy when he wakes up, especially if Darcy is asleep and he gets lots of one on one time. Drew was working from home this day, and Ezra was so happy to hang out with him. 

 The other day while I was getting ready I let the kids watch a show on my laptop in my bed. I walked in and they were snuggled close and had their heads leaning against each other.

 We were in Mattawa for Memorial Day weekend. Drew's dad had hay down and rain was in the forecast. They needed to get it raked quickly, so Drew got to drive a tractor for a couple days. I thought the kids needed to go have a ride, so we went and joined him for a bit. Neither of them were very happy about getting in that tractor, but once we were in they were alright. P.S. The rain got the hay anyway. Bummer.

 It was supposed to rain on Monday, so the guys had to rake on Sunday. I had to take the kids to church by myself. We made it halfway through sacrament meeting, and Ezra was coughing like a crazy man which he had not been doing until right when church started. He was also crying and squirmy and Darcy was crying, so I took Ezra to Drew in the tractor. He fell asleep on the ride, and Darcy and I enjoyed the rest of church!

 I am realizing now I don't know where these actually came from, but somehow Ezra ended up with these awesome skates on at my mom's house.

 Haley and Brian made this really awesome play house out of a cardboard box Haley found at my mom's. Sunday afternoon we were sitting outside and these guys decided to see how many people they could fit in their house. They were trying to get Nick to get in there with them. :)

 The easiest way for them to all get out.

 Darcy and Ezra watering my mom's flowers together.

 I went to peek at Ezra during his nap the other day and found him with his leg propped up and his hand in the air.

 Cute kids with bubble hats. I was showing them how they looked in a mirror when I took this picture.

This past week our friend invited us to go visit the police station with a big group. It was fun to go check it out, and we all went and played at the park and had a picnic when we were done which the kids loved!