My Little Girls

Here are my girls with their fresh new haircuts! We need to go back and fix Jocie's a little, But I love them!

Indian Summer Vacation

We decided to go up to Lander for a little camp out and it was a blast! We stayed in City Park which is free and full of grass and trees and the most wonderful playground I've ever seen! The girls loved it! Our goal of the trip was to see the Sinks and the Rise of the Popo Agie. (pronounced po po shuh) It was the most BEAUTIFUL place I had ever been to in my life! Never before have I seen such a beautiful river!




The Popo Agie just flows literally into the mountain and disappears! GORGEOUS!!!


We drove up the canyon and hiked a nice nature trail...and got to cross my first "rope bridge" ever!




Here is The Rise of the Popo Agie. This is where the water that went into the mountain up at the Sinks comes out. I think it's such a magical place! These are the most massive rainbow trout! I swear they're as big as Lizzie! Truthfully! They just swim around fat and happy! I took these pictures from a good 75 feet above the water and the fish were still huge! There are probably twice that many smaller fish on the other side of the big sand bar...breath-taking!!!



The weather was wonderful and the sights were majestic! If you've never done this before, I HIGHLY recommend it!

New adventures!

School...Here we come!!! It was the first day of school yesterday and the girls were so excited! I got a job at the children's center up at the college as a teacher's aide and they get to come with me for $80 a SEMESTER!!! It's four hours a day monday through friday! We were really blessed to come across this job because I just got a root canal and crown...and well...let's just say the first 2 or 3 paychecks go straight to the dentists. Sad right? It's just so wierd that I'm a mom of OLD children...not babies anymore...sigh

Not you're average walk in the park

Straight from the Girlies

Kid Questionnaire
Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.
Tag other Parents with older kids who might have fun with this. :)

I asked Lizzie (almost 3) and Jocelyn (4 1/5) these questions, and I wrote exactly what she told me to.

1. What is something your Mom always says to you? J-Be nice and healthy L-Question

2. What makes Mom happy? J-to be nice and we can't hit eachother L-giggle giggle

3. What makes Mom sad? J-Umm...Hit L-(funny faces)

4. How does your Mom make you laugh? J -Um, to be nice and healthy L-(hugs me)

5. What did your Mom like to do when she was a child?J- Um, you like to play with toys L-cwyin(crying)

6. How old is your Mom? J-Um....sixteenhundred L-fwee huh?

7. How tall is your Mom? J-um...sixteen years L-um, play the house...

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV? J-Um...channel, Doctors and people L-(jumping on the bed)

9. What does your Mom do when you're not around? J-Um, play around L-run around!

10. If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?J- being nice L-(looking out the window)

11. What is your Mom really good at? J-Ummm...be nice and hit number 4 L-(bouncing on the bed)

Lizzie is out of the room at this point!!!

12. What is your Mom not very good at? J-Kids

13. What does your Mom do for her job? J-Um...Pickin Palace!!!!

14. What is your Mom's favorite food? J-CEREAL

15. What makes you proud of your Mom? J-Being nice

16. If your Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? J-Tinkerbell!!

17. What do you and your Mom do together? J-Um...love eachother and make each other happy!

18. How are you and your Mom the same? J-Um, when we have friends

19. How are you and your Mom different? J-We were eating, and then I was green

20. How do you know your Mom loves you? J-Be nice cuz we make our hearts happy!

21. What does your Mom like most about your Dad? J-Be nice to help!

22. Where is your Mom's favorite place to go? J-um...Pickin Palace!

Holy crap!

We totally bought a house today!
The rainbow house is officially ours!
We're not sure when we're moving, I guess it's just going to be a few boxes at a time until we're ready for the big stuff. I'll give you an update as soon as we have one!

Adventures in Babysitting

It all started when my sister went to Hawaii without her three children....we got take care of them for the week. I decided the best way to approach this (as drama free as possible) is to make a list and check them off as we go. They all had something to look forward to every day. Above is the day after they got here! Here we have the group preparing to dye Easter Eggs. WAY FUN!!! We jammed out to Bronwyn's (my niece) iPod....which included Alvin and the Chipmunks: Witch Doctor and Hannah Montana....AWESOME!
Below is later in the day when mom held a neighborhood easter egg hunt! These were just the family that was in town...there were at least that many more neighborhood kids! This was just before the hunt started. What an EGGSellent afternoon!

Remember what I said above...Drama free...well leave it to our little red headed DIVA to add the dramatic flair through my make-up. This has happened before, but never this bad and this time I wasn't ridiculously mad at her. Yeah, it's all over her body...sigh...

Here we have the imagination of an eleven year old running wild in the basement! Will flopped a mattress over the love seat and the kids played on "the slide" for hours!!! They had soooo much fun until....dun dun duuuuunnnnnnn.....

....Lizzie's head hurt Dillon's belly....Really Dillon plowed into little Lizzie and he didn't want to get in trouble for it...Lizzie was really hurt..Dill wasn't. I called Dill a faker and he said...(in his wailing cries) "I am not a faker Brittany!!!, (pointing to his tears) Look at these tears! These are REAL!!! I died laughing! Again I say, fairly drama free.

Next came the castle at the rec center! These kids had so much stinking fun bashing eachother with the blocks...stuffing the blocks up the slide...building castles...knocking them down....running and screaming and listening to their own echoes! Meanwhile I just chatted with one of my best friends...trying to figure out if I could take a hunter's safety class with her! She's so funny...I could probably chat with her all day if given the chance!

Off to the big surprise of the day!!!! This was soooooo not on the list! But I was truely inspired by another one of my best friends' blog to go bowling! It really is the best for all ages!!! We at lunch at the snack bar here and bowled an awesome game! Will lead the scoring with a whopping 111 points!!!! Go WILL!

Earlier in the week we made these stepping stones out of just plain concrete from home depot and flattened marbles...they set up and this is the result of each child's creativity. I helpped Lizzie and Jocie a bit...but it was so fun! (if you're thinking about doing it...get the concrete WITHOUT gravel)

While we were playing outside our neighbor walked by with Malcom... his HORSE of a dog. He really is as tall as Jocie...but so super nice!

This is the scene during the final night of Spring Break at Grandma's. All five children lined up under their blankies watching Shark Tale....One word comes to mind when I see this picture....

...Bliss.
All in all it went really, really well. The kids were great, the entertainment was awesome and the memories are sweet.
And that is my adventure in babysitting!

Rainbow House

A lot has happened since I last posted...and it's all happening so fast! Jared and I are now in the process of purchasing this home! WOO HOOOOOO! It's a charming little 2 bedroom one bath home with an unfinished basement that was built in 1944! But don't let the white fool you...Jocelyn and Lizzie call this their rainbow house, and for good reason!

Here is the living room! It's a good size with a gas fireplace, bay window and arched entry way...still wondering why it's called the rainbow house?

TA DUMMMMMM! Here is the obscenely pink bathroom accented with blue stripes in the tile all over a bed of red carpet. The interesting thing about this bathroom is that it is divided into a toilet room and a shower room by a sliding pocket door. There are actually two doors from the hallway that go into each room! FUNNY!!!

Next is the kitchen/dining room combo! I for one LOVE it like crazy!!! We're not changing the colors at all! Notice the retro light fixture! It's a round flourescent fixture! We will add a dishwasher eventually and maybe some more cabinets on the wall that's not pictured.

There is tile around the entire room as well as a funky green carpet. We too will change out the carpet but like I said we're leaving the tile and green paint...there's also a bay window here. So that's the big news in our family! Not much else though! Let me know what you think!

Pamper Yourself!

Hi everybody! It's that time of year when I seem to hold my annual Pampered Chef party! I'm so excited about this one because it's a new catalog and there's lots of new items! So I thought I'd let you all in on the festivities! Plus, it's shipped directly to you when you order online!

Here's the website of the Pampered Chef Consultant

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/marleneskitchen

When you check out (completely securely) the host name is me,

Brittany Jensen

Here you can see the new AWESOME PINEAPPLE CUTTER!!!
That's the thing I'm most excited about! So if you have any questions just leave a comment and I will try to figure it out for you!
Thanks so much!!!

St. Patricks Day Delight

For my mother's birthday we made her the most wonderful cake! It also happens to be PERFECT for St. Patricks Day! It's a cake that's just bursting with green goodness...so here's the recipe!

Pistachio Cake

pre-heat oven to 350

Ingredients:

1white cake mix

1 small box instant pistachio pudding

1/4 cup flower

3 eggs

2 cups 7-up

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup chopped nuts (opt)

Combine all ingredients, mix well.

Bake in 9"x13" pan for 35-40 min until toothpick comes out clean

Frosting:

1 cup cold milk

1 small box instant pistachio pudding

1 small container of cool whip

Mix milk and pudding

Fold into cool whip

Spread onto cake

store in fridge

(way better the 2nd day)

Believe me! If you try it, you will LOVE it!!!

This post is dedicated to those who's favorite color is green...who's favorite holiday is St. Patty's day or who's anniversary just happens to be on St. Patricks Day!!!

You know who you are!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

A Little Eye Opener

I saw this on facebook and totally loved it! I think Carolyn did a very good job in her reply to this crazy question. What do you think?

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Here is my sweet little Jocelyn as the star of her first ever production. I knew they were doing plays for their program on Valentine's day, I just didn't know that she was the star! I'm so proud!!!

It's sort of hard to hear her teacher, but they all did a really great job!

Confessions of an Insomniac

Well, it's five in the morning (which is rediculously early for me), and I officially suck at sleeping! (pardon my language) I haven't updated the good ole' blog in a while so here I am! It seems like there is so much going on in our lives yet not much at all is happening. As most of you know, my family and I live with my mother here in Rock Springs. That's going great! It's such a blessing to be able to save money and be with mom! Jared loves his new job! He's been there for about 3 months and it's going very well. He actually applied for a higher paying position in Casper. We're not sure when we'll hear back about it, after all it took 7 months to get hired for the position he has now. It's sort of a long shot but we figured it was worth a try to apply. We also went to the bank and got pre-approved for a home loan. It is enough to get us into a cute little town-home but not enough to get us into a "House." So pretty much my brain turns to jello at night...thinking about maybe moving to Casper or making it work here in Rock Springs. In the mean-time, the girls are so cute and so funny! Jocie is loving Sun-beans and pre-school! She has a Valentines day program today so I will be posting later with the entertainment she will provide to us. Lizzie is so funny! She's growing up so fast and acting just like big sis. They like to fight over saying the prayer...every time we pray! Jocie usually ends up helping Lizzie and it's so cute! So there is a little update for the world to see!

Valentines Day is Approaching!

Okay everybody, Sorry to do this to you, but I figured I'd give it a try. There is a link on my blog that says...WarmYourHeartAndHome...it goes to my demonstrator Website. So if you are in need of a quick and easy, yet lovely and heart warming Valentines Day gift, Gold Canyon is selling a little Valentines Gift Box...It's a GREAT gift for mothers, mothers in law, sisters, teachers, friends, the list goes on. If you don't want to get the gift box...just get the candle! They come in 5oz, 8oz, 16oz and 26oz. I think it's a great idea and hey, it's not your "average" valentine. It's super easy, and COMPLETELY secure. Thanks guys!

Sweet Pork Anyone?

So whenever I go visit my sister down in Bountiful I'm like one of Pavlov's Dogs! I seem to start salivating when we pull into town because she lives ONE block away from Costa Vida! I ALWAYS seem to make it down the street to this wonderful place! Well, another one of my sisters told me the "Secret" recipe for their sweet pork and I'm kinda freaking out about it! I just made sweet pork quesadillas today and Jocie and Lizzie both said..."MMmmMMmmMMm Kanks Mom!!!" (thanks mom) Oh gosh it was just as good and SOOO Easy! Plus I fed my family for like $6.50 as opposed to paying $8.00 for one quesadilla!

So all of you who are wanting to pinch pennies with out sacrificing taste and quailty....

can I get a WOOP WOOP!!!....

Here's the Recipe: 2lbs pork tenderloin (or pork roast)
1/2 cup Pace Picante Sauce (I used mild)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Put it all in a slow cooker, It took about 2 hours on high...but I kicked it down to low just til it was time to eat:) Basically just cook it til the meat is done, then pull apart the pork to shred it :)This recipe may be doubled, just allow more time to cook. Enjoy!

False Advertising

This is very random, but I guess most posts are random....and this has just been on my mind lately. I completely love looking at my friends (and their friends) blogs! I think that they are so fun and exciting, sometimes even enlightning! But I have noticed a trend among the blogs of expectant mothers. The "BABY TICKER" I think that this is an exciting and clever way to actually see and put into numbers the progress that baby and mom are making! And I completely love to see the content of the posts in relation to the number of weeks the mother is in her pregnancy...funny how the early weeks are being sick and tired...middle weeks are cleaning and sleeping...later weeks are just expressing their desire to be done...and trying really hard to be nice to those around her...This is so neat to see, but when I see the baby tickers, more specifically the one on my best friends blog, it says that she has 22 days left and you see this sweet little fully developed baby floating peacefully around enjoing the ample space to turn this way and that. I say that this is false advertising and I feel really bad for those expectant mothers. Because any woman who has 22 days to go in her pregnancy knows that there are only frequent trips to the bathroom as a result of the baby trying to jam it's fist into your bladder...and bruises on your ribs as a result of the future soccer player practicing it's game winning kicks. To me, nothing is graceful or peaceful about having 22 days to go. So to my friends and family who are expecting, Keep up the good work! It will all be over before you know it! I used to be baby hungry when my friends were in their "middle months." I now am SOOOO NOT baby hungry.

My Resolutions

This year is probably the first that I have really thought about a resolution. I, like most everybody have several "pairs of shoes" to fill, or in other words, roles to play in my life. I have been a daughter for 24 years, a wife for 5 years, a mother for almost 4 years and have had a calling since I was in Bee Hives...if you count the young women years callings. But to help with my point, I will call them callings. Until now I have been going through a lot of motions in my life, mostly doing what I have to do to get the job done. But a couple of weeks ago, the bishop of our ward came to my (mom's) house and extended the calling of Enrichment Counselor to me. Of course I said..."Yeah, sure, no problem..." What I didn't realize, as a result of getting called to be in the primary practically the day I got married and only going to Relief Society like 20 times in my whole life, was that the Enrichment Counselor is actually in the Relief Society presidency. I thought that I would be working under the 1st or 2nd counselor, not being the 1st or 2nd counselor. I also realized that I am not spiritually "up to snuff." At least I don't think I am. I have never taken the opportunity to really rely on my Heavenly Father to accomplish my tasks and fulfill my callings. I have always been blessed with being around such wonderful and strong people...I just didn't need more help, or so I thought. So I was petrified on sunday as it was my first serving in the presidency. I was glad that it just happened to be fast sunday. I didn't begin my fast on saturday night, I've never been a good "faster." But I realized that I truely and realistically needed my Heavenly Father's help from this day on in order to fulfill this calling. So I started my fast with prayer about an hour before church started, and truely praying in my heart the ENTIRE time until Relief Society was over. Afterward I chased the bishop down to set me apart along with the other counselor, we agreed that we both needed all the help we could get as soon as possible. After two lovely blessings given to the other ladies, it was my turn...again praying in my heart like crazy that the spirit would attend and guide the bishops words. Never in my life have I recieved a blessing so...right, and fitting, and pure...Never in my life have I felt that Heavenly Father was speaking to me, I can't emphasize enough the word never. So, as a testimony to reality of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Heavenly Fathers love, and Priesthood power, I now really know that they are true and real. I thought I did before, I've always been pretty solid in my testimony. So back to my resolutions, I've decided to resolve to do my best to be worthy of the blessings of being a daughter, wife, mother and enrichment counselor. And to be worthy of the blessings of the Spirit, Heavenly Fathers love, and the priesthood.

I know this is a little long...and maybe even a little sappy...but it was a HUGE spiritual experience. Had to share it with ya!