Independence Day

We gathered together as a family to celebrate Independence Day.  We also celebrated my sister Kirsta's birthday and my brother-in-law--Spencer's birthday.  They are all close, and since I had finally finished up with the Lehi house and it was on the market, Glenn and I were getting ready to head back to Texas to be with Paul.  We were glad to get together again before leaving.

Fun with Jasper and Freya

At the beginning of July, we had a playdate with cousins Jasper and Freya.

They played inside and outside and had so much fun!

After playing outside in the heat, they came back in, in need of water.  

They drank lots and then played with the rest.

Being a kid is such fun!

Girl's Lunch

At the end of June we decided that a girl's gathering was in order.  We weren't able to get everyone there unfortunately, but we did have a good time with those that came.  My extended Jensen family has a lot of boys in it and so we like to gather as girls when we can.  My immediate family takes up more than half of us that were there. :D  

 Sirie.Kirsta.Mom.Aunt Suzanne.Grandma Joy.Emily.Maren.

We missed Aunt Kirsten, Meg, Aunt Carolyn, Gaby, Aunt Jenny, and Ingrid.

I love all of these women so much!

Swimming at Layton's Surf-n-Swim

My parents' ward up in Layton has a yearly activity at the Surf-n-Swim.  It was a lot of fun.

Symphony at the Park

Another time when we were hanging out with the Jardine's, we went to a symphony in the park.

Ian's Birthday/Harrison's Homecoming

My little cousin Ian turned 8 while we were there in Utah.  My other cousin Harrison returned from his mission around the same time.  So we had another extended family get together to celebrate.

Fun at Grandma Esther's

Even though most of my days were spent down in Lehi working on the house, I did have a few days when I was in Layton with Glenn and my mom.  And we tried to have as much fun as we could on those days.

Don't be fooled by this seemingly harmless laundry basket just sitting in the foyer.  It was a fast little guy and hard to capture.

Fun with Lorenzo

I had another opportunity to play softball while in Utah.  Glenn and I were staying with our best friends, the Jardine's.  Kyle and Emmeline were part of a softball team and they had a game while we were there.  Emmeline said I would be able to play in place of her and she would watch the boys, Glenn and Lorenzo.

We didn't take any pictures during the game because it was super windy and I hadn't brought the camera out from the car.  But it was so much fun to play again.  I did take pictures of the boys (and a video) of them being silly in the car.  In the video you can hear Kyle and Emmeline talking about an awesome hit I had.  Goodness, it felt so good to play again!

Play Time with Cousins

Glenn loved being in Utah and close to his cousins.  He had many opportunities to play with them, especially when I was working on the house.  One time though I was able to watch Kirsta's kids while she and Morian had a fun date.  

Our day together started off with a sort of game/puzzle we had bought recently.  It's all about shapes and how they can fit together to make other shapes.  The kids had fun with them, especially Devin.

The Return of Sunnye

So I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but Glenn left his favorite stuffed animal, Sunnye, in Portugal.

Sunnye (and yes, that is the spelling.  We asked Glenn how to spell it, and that's what he said.) had traveled to many different places with us.  He was a good travel companion for Glenn.  I was amazed that with all of our comings and goings that he always managed to be with us at the end of the day.

Until one day...

Memorial Day

Glenn and I were in Utah for Memorial Day.  I love this time of year when we can gather as a family and eat so many yummy and fresh foods!  

The Lehi House Part 3: All Done!

And now the pictures that you've all been waiting for!!

The Lehi House Part 2: The Inside

We determined that if we wanted the house to look it's best, we would need to repaint every wall and put in new carpet.  I went back and forth, trying to decide if I could do it myself--the painting, I mean--but I finally decided that it was worth the money to have professionals take care of it.  We first had to get the walls ready to be painted.  We took off the interesting wall frame that had been put in before we lived there.  I also spent hours and hours scrubbing inside.  We scrubbed every. single. wall!  And that is not exaggerating!  It took a lot of patience to scrub each wall, each cabinet--everywhere!  I listened to General Conference while scrubbing to help the time go by and also to help me keep a good attitude. : D

The Lehi House Part 2: The Outside

I'm sure looking at those "before" pictures was kind of depressing.  But not to worry, I got started on things right away.  The first day that I took pictures, I also had lunch with Paul's mom, his aunt, his brother and his cousin--at delicious Cafe Rio.  Then they all came back to the house with me and helped with yard work.  I feel bad that I didn't get any pictures of them helping--but I sure did appreciate their help!!  Thanks again!

Over the course of two months, I spent a lot of time out in the yard, trying to get it to look presentable.  We determined that the front lawn was pretty much dead and just needed to be ripped out.  I made this sound like it was an easy decision, but it took a lot of debating and wondering and figuring.  Paul and I had had trouble with it when we lived there.  We decided to do what we would've done if we had continued to live there--we would rip out the ugly, rotting railroad ties, the stones and the tree stumps.  We then wanted it grated and smoothed out.  It took a lot of phone calls to see who could help us rip it out and do all this work, but eventually I got it worked out.  We actually had one guy say he could do it--charging several hundred--but then at the last minute he backed out.  Ah!  So I scrambled and found another guy who said he could do it--and charged significantly less and did it in less time.  So that sure was a blessing.

The Lehi House Part 1: The Basement

So I had to continue with the tour of the home and went downstairs.  It looked like a kid had taken a permanent marker and just hit it against the wall with each step.

The Lehi House Part 1: The Upstairs and Garage

Next I ventured inside.  I was slightly hopeful that I wouldn't have to do a ton of cleaning, because the renters had said they hired professional cleaners.  Even from looking at the door, I saw that either they lied to us, or the cleaners came and couldn't get in.  Or the cleaners came and saw how gross it was and decided to not even try.  We didn't contact the renters to find out either way, so we don't know the reason.  But from that first step I knew I would be in Utah a lot longer than I or Paul had thought. :(

The Lehi House Part 1: The Outside

Just after our first family get together, I headed down to Lehi to see what the house looked like (May 20th).  We had gotten word from the renters that they had had it professionally cleaned the day after they moved out. I went down, thinking that I wouldn't have too much work to do--maybe a little bit of yard work here and there, but mostly just a little maintenance.  Boy, was I wrong!

I drove up to the house, saw the dead lawn, the overgrown flower beds, the completely overgrown and neglected garden and fruit trees, trash and junk left everywhere, broken fence gate and slats, broken and ripped out window screens...oh, and that last picture, I'll let you guess what you think it is...

Softball

On Wednesday May 22nd, my sister Kirsta's ward was getting together to play softball: the women verses the young women.  She invited Maren and I to come play with her.  It had been so long since I played and I was so excited to get out there on the field again!

Family Get Together (First of Many)

After our short stay in the Staybridge, Glenn and I flew out to Utah on Saturday May 18th.  Paul "moved" into an apartment here in Austin that same day.  Before we left for Spain--back in March--I met a sister from one of the wards here in Austin.  She had asked if there was anything she could help us with.  I had mentioned that we needed a place to stay during the summer months here in Austin because we would be heading back to Spain.  She talked with a girl and found out that they were looking for someone to take over their apartment lease during the summer.  Perfect!  The timing was so perfect for both of us that we knew it was an answer to both of our prayers!  So that Saturday, Paul moved into their apartment--with their things so we didn't have to take stuff out of storage--and Glenn and I went to Utah.  We had had renters in our Lehi house when we moved to Virginia and then to Texas.  They had moved out in April and I went to Utah to get the house ready to sell.  We didn't really like being landlords, especially from so far away.  And we figured that we wouldn't be moving back, and so the best thing was to sell the home and let another family create wonderful memories there.

That first Sunday that we were in Utah we had a family get together on my Dad's side.  While the adults were eating and visiting, the kids were finding costumes and dressing up.  
They sure were cute!

 Kenzie. Devin. Glenn.

Haircuts

Once we returned from Spain, we went back to the Staybridge hotel.  It was almost like returning home. :D  We were there for almost a week.  The first thing we did, after sleeping through the night of course, was get haircuts.  

Glenn likes to cut Paul's hair.