Gone Camping

This last weekend--Sept 14-15--our ward had a small campout.  We went to Elizabeth Furnace Recreation Area.  It is about an hour and a half away from our place.  

We didn't have a tent, but we wanted to go still.  So we stopped on our way and bought a tent.  It was probably the best impulse buy we've done! : D

It said that it would take a minute to set up--guaranteed.  So we took the challenge--in the dark too.  We got there as it was getting dark and we had to set it up by flashlight.  And it was true.  It really only took a minute to set it up!  It was great!

The Boy Likes to Jump!

Glenn loves to climb on his kitchen and jump on his bed.

Glenn's Alphabet

Glenn has known his letters for a long time now.  Lately though he has been really interested in writing them.  For his birthday, I bought him a dry-erase board with dotted lines for him to eventually practice on.  I thought that maybe it was a bit too soon to give it to him, but he has proved me wrong!

Joy School

A few months ago I got an email from a sister in my ward asking if Glenn and I would like to join their Joy School group.  Yes, we would!

I was really excited to be invited and I knew Glenn would have a fun time too.

We found a shoe box and proceeded to decorate it for his school supplies.

Baseball at the Park

At the beginning of September we took Glenn's baseball bat and ball to the park.  

Baseball with the Disner's

Glenn has been enthusiastic about baseball for a few months now.  This is peculiar because Kayley is known for playing volleyball and me for soccer.  She was a softball player for several years and I played t-ball.  It is not foreign to us, and we are glad he is a typical American boy loving America's past time.

Grandma Thibault's Funeral

"What is this thing that men call death?

This quiet passing in the night?

‘Tis not the end but genesis

Of better worlds and greater light.

O God, touch Thou my aching heart

And calm my troubled, haunting fears

Let hope and faith, transcendent, pure

Give strength and peace beyond my tears.

There is no death, but only change

With recompense for vict’ry won

The gift of Him who loved all men

The Son of God, the Holy One."

~President Gordon B, Hinckley

Fun with Toys & Games

I don't have much to say about these pictures, other than this is what we've been up to lately.

Here is another one of Glenn's drawings.  

I love when he does these little people!

Fun at Home

"There is joy in every sound, when there's love at home."

I couldn't help but think of that hymn when I titled this post.  We have had a lot of fun at home lately.  I'm usually the picture taker of my boys having fun.  Enjoy!

Local Tourist Attractions

Paul had August 20th off and so we took the opportunity to tour some local attractions.  It's amazing how many places and things there are to see here!

Clara Barton National Historic Site

First we went to Clara Barton's house.  

Happy 5th Anniversary!

August 15th, Paul and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary.  It was on a Wednesday and we hadn't planned very well...so it didn't turn out very well.  Well, at least it wasn't very exciting.  But we still had a good day.  

(Not the cutest picture of us, but we had to take one on the day...so there it is.)

Romney Ryan Rally

Back on August 11th, Paul, Glenn and I went down to Manassas, VA to attend a Romney Ryan rally.  

Random Bits from Trip to Utah

I had just a few extra pictures that I wanted to share from our trip back to Utah this summer.  We really did enjoy seeing everyone and being there for all the fun and festivities!

 Sirie, talking to Paul while she was supposed to be cleaning out her car... :D

The Birthday Continues...

Glenn is such a lucky kid!  Not only did he get 2 birthday parties, but he also got to open up presents that were here in Virginia that we didn't take to Utah.  

Glenn's {Second} 3rd Birthday Party

On Glenn's actual birthday we had his second birthday party.  This was just for family--and for good reason because he has a lot of little cousins around his age!  (Give or take a couple of years...)

This time we went to Kangaroo Zoo!

Glenn's {first} 3rd Birthday Party

We took advantage of our being in Utah around Glenn's birthday to have a party for him.  We knew we would do a birthday party with family, but we didn't want it to get too big by having our friends come as well.  So we split it up and had two parties!
The first one was at the Splash Pad again.

The Wedding Festivities [Part2]

A Combined Family BBQ

After the girls got their nails done, we headed over to the McCoy's house.  They invited Sirie's family over with their family for a BBQ.  This was the first time most of us were meeting each other.  We had a lot of fun, getting to know them, mingling with each other, and watching the kids play.  

(I apologize now for the weird black spot in all the pictures.  I don't know how it came to be there, but it was there.  I was hoping it wouldn't show up on the pictures--that it was just something internal--but it wasn't.  So excuse the black spot on our faces at times...)

The Wedding Festivities [Part 1]

The Bridal Shower

We had a bridal shower for Sirie on July 31.  We did an ice cream sundae buffet.  We held it at the church building near Kirsta's house in the evening.  We had most of the family come to it and it was good to see everyone again.

 

Our Flying Adventure

The day after we said good-bye to Maren, Glenn and I flew out to Utah (July 24th).  Sirie was getting married, and we wanted to be there for all the festivities.  We were able to be there longer than Paul because he couldn't take that many days off work.  Paul joined us after a week or so.  Glenn was excited to travel on airplanes again.  We had Sirie's father-in-law, who works for an airline, get us buddy passes...which meant that we were on standby for the flights.  We made the mistake of not booking a direct flight.  I thought I would save us some money and I knew Glenn would have more fun riding more than one airplane.  

Well...I just didn't think very well.  : D  

We took the convenient flight out of Dulles at 6am.  When Paul dropped us off, I forgot to grab the car seat for Glenn.  I checked in the other bags and was about to go to security when I remembered.  I called Paul and made him come back to give me the car seat.  I didn't have time to check it, so I had to just drag it along with me.  When I finally got through security, we had to rush towards our gate.  One thing I've never really understood is why airports don't have more clocks!  I didn't know what time it was--so I thought I had plenty of time.  But then over the speakers I heard, "Final call for passengers Kayley and Glenn Jensen for flight...."  What?!  Thankfully the gate wasn't too far from where I was, but we still had to run to get there.  I dragged the car seat, and held Glenn's hand while we ran.  Poor Glenn-he was tired.  It was pretty early still and I was trying to go fast.  At one point I dropped one of our tickets, but someone was nice enough to get it to me.  We finally made it to the gate and boarded the plane.  

And it wasn't long after that that we were in the air.  

Phew!  

I took only one picture of Glenn in the airplane...but he had a lot of fun sitting by the window and looking out, pointing to all the buttons, and seeing what everything around him did.  He liked getting apple juice and pretzels and cookies.  (After that first flight, he couldn't wait for them to come around on all the other flights.)

I was grateful that we were able to get on that flight and had a lot of hope for the next flight.  Little did I know that it would be a long time before I would finally get to Utah.

A Trip to Baltimore

At the end of July, we went on a little day trip up to Baltimore with Maren.  We went to the National Aquarium.  It was a lot of fun!  We all loved seeing all the different kinds of fish and aquamarine life.  The building was set up very interestingly.  You went from one exhibit to another and it just flowed to the next room.  The big windowed buildings and the walk way in between were all part of it.