It's a Girl, Kaylor Jensen

Kaylor Jensen

 

Daughter of Robyn and Jason

 

Sister to Hallee, Jadyn, Colt and Bristol

She came to this earth on September 26th at 3:22 am.

(born on Uncle Lyle's birthday - my big brother)

 

7 Lbs. 5 oz. 21 inches long.

Robyn says she has been the calmest baby that they have had so far, so we'll see. Labor and delivery went quickly and they are doing well and hoping to come home this morning.

 

Her Family and my niece's family:

 Robyn and Jason opted not to know the sex of the baby until she was born - it was pretty exciting to find out what she was.

 She will be another great blessing to this family. I'm sure the kids can't wait to meet her.

Now there are 4 daughters and 1 son.

 

Congratulations!

Kaylor 1 week old.

 

Hallee's Baptism

 On September 1st, I attended the baptism for my great-niece Hallee.

I was thankful that I remembered to bring my camera, because her mom's camera was broken and she didn't realize it was until they were in the church house.  

Hallee looked very beautiful in her white dress.

Before the service, I took the family into the hallway and took a couple of pictures. Hallee and her dad Jason.

Hallee and with her mom Robyn (my niece) and dad.

A family picture with brother and sisters Bristol (in Mom's arms), Colt, Hallee and Jadyn.

Walking down the hall towards the baptismal font.

I thought Hallee's hair flower was beautiful and wanted to get a picture of it.

Robyn giving Bristol a cookie. Robyn is also pregnant with a new brother or sister (which will be a surprise) due on Sept 26th.

After the baptism and confirmation, we stopped by Hallee's home for a few yummy refreshments. Robyn made banana bars which were very yummy and I totally need the recipe. She also made homemade oreos. Cindy my sister made zucchini cookies and the other grandma brought a bundt cake. It was all very good.


 My sister Cindy is in the floral dress and her husband Kelly is sitting next to her.

 

It is always an exciting day when a Child of God chooses to be baptised and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Also, the importance of having these 2 ordinances performed and making sacred covenants with Heavenly Father AND choosng to become one of Jesus' followers.

 

It was a wonderful day! I'm proud of Hallee for making this choice in her life. 

My Feelings About Sending Brady Off to College

 

I've been asked many times if I cried when I dropped Brady off to college or when I left.

 

Nope, I didn't.

 

My life hasn't been like a normal mom or family.

 

I divorced when Brady was 2 years old. After my divorce was final, Brady was with his dad every Wednesday and every other weekend. When I moved to Boise when Brady was 3, every month for 15 years Brady has flown to SLC on his own to see his dad.

 

If I cried every time he left - I would have been crying my whole life. When you are in situations like this you adapt. You have to or else you can't survive. My emotions are pretty much shut down and I don't cry to easily.

 

Brady says I do, because I do tear up often in Sacrament meeting, reading a book or watching a movie.

 

But in real life I cry rarely. I take life as it comes and have learned to cope with the ups and downs of raising my children on my own.

 

I didn't always used to be this way. When I had Jason as a single mom, I cried quite a lot.

 

During my divorce I cried a LOT.

 

I guess somewhere along the line I turned it off and don't fret over my life situations anymore. I tend to take it in stride and make the best of every situation.

 

When Brady left I was excited for him. Excited for this wonderful opportunity to attend BYU, make a great life for himself and meet new friends.

 

Because he is in Provo, Utah at an LDS college with LDS roommates and LDS atmosphere - there isn't much to worry about. Also the fact that his dad lives down the road in Salt Lake City, Utah makes me know that he has support when he needs it.

 

It's an exciting adventure for Brady and I'm not sad at all for him.

 

As for me being an empty nester. I've enjoyed it so far. No one to take care of, worry over, clean up after ... time off --- Squeal! I've been doing everything on my own for such a long time - 28 years ... while I have the full responsibility of working, raising children and maintaining a home. I feel as if I'm on holiday.

 

At times I feel guilty for sitting and reading a book or doing what I want to do. The guilt comes in and I feel like I should be doing something to take care of my children - a habit. But then I remember that I don't have any obligations and I sit back and relax.

 

I'm quite happy and not sad at all. Now, all of you know my deepest feelings of being an empty nester ... and I'm OK.

 

(On the other hand ... I don't understand weeping moms at all - I just don't live in that world)

Brady is a FHE Dad

Brady has a new blog called I am a Mormon and This is my Castle. Here is his blog telling about his new calling to be the Family Home Evening Dad:

Wards in college are obviously different than your family ward in your hometown. Not only is it a singles ward, but the new semester means a whole new ward entirely. The only people who are not new are the bishop, his councilors, the high councilor, the relief society advisor, and the clerk. That means that all the other callings were up for grabs and quickly were being dished out to the members. The goal, our bishop told us, was that everyone in the ward would get a calling. My ward is comprised of 75 males an 125 females.

My first Monday here was a family home evening day. We all came out of our apartments and sorted ourselves into pre-assigned groups, and played a few games. I was trying my hardest before the games started to remember everyone’s names, which was a really comical sight. After the games, we were asked to do a skit. I was very excited. We were given props, but our skit had to have a religious overtone or theme to it. The props we got were swimming noodles, and a baseball bat. Needless to say, I took over the reins of the activity, and started to instruct people on what they were, what to do, and their lines. During the planning, a member of the bishopric came over and asked who was leading our group. Everyone kind of just looked at me, so I became the temp home evening leader (dad) and a girl volunteered for the corresponding part (mom). Our skit was based on the story of Ammon and the king. I was the king, needless to say. All the women in the group were sheep. There was an Ammon with the bat, and sheep scatterers with the noodles going through their shirt for arms. When the sheep got scattered, Ammon came at them with his bat and chopped their arms (noodles) off.

Last week, I was called in an hour before church, which takes place in a rather large building with 4 chapels I believe, and was informed I would be given a calling. Without any surprise at all, I was called as the permanent home evening leader.

(Yes, this was taken in a public bathroom. I felt my room and bathroom were too messy.)

Now that I’m pretty much a weekly activities director, I hope that I’ll be able to come up with fun, interesting, and possibly unique things to do and blog about. I hope you guys will look forward to some exciting activities to base your family home evenings after!

Brady's First Day at Orientation

One of the fun things they do during Orientation is have the freshmen make the "Y".

 

Here is a time lapsed YouTube video of them making it.

It's just too much fun!

 





Brady's New Home

 Brady's new living room.

 Brady's new dining room.

 Brady's new kitchen without a dishwasher :-(.

 Brady's bedroom. Brady has a single room and isn't sharing it. The apartment is 2 bedrooms and the other bedroom has 2 people in it.

 His desk at the end of his bed.

Snacks on the shelf:  Granola bars, Gushers, Gobstoppers, and the last on you can't see has mini Reese's peanut butter cups. Every kid needs a few snacks right?  

 The keyboard that he received for graduation didn't fit in the living room - so it's in his bedroom.

 Joseph is from Aurora, Colorado. The roommates had been in contact for a few weeks before they arrived at college. I was really worried about Joseph during the Movie theater attack during Batman. I kept googling his name to make sure he was OK. When I met his mom and him (they were there on Tuesday too) we talked about it. Joe was in a different theater but he was at the midnight showing of Batman. He also knew someone who was shot. Such a sad ordeal, but we are happy that Joe was OK.



On Wednesday Kirk arrived. He is from Lindon Utah only 20 minutes away. I was able to meet his parents too. (you can see the TV in the right hand corner of the picture. I let Brady take my 32 in TV from my bedroom. He was pretty excited and felt spoiled.

 

Brady has been Mr. Clean in his apartment and is the roommate doing the dishes most days. He's made the other ones do it now and again. I knew he would want a clean house *grin.

 

Joe has a job from 4am - 8am every week day. I'm sure that is a hard thing.

 

Kirk doesn't seem like he is there very  much, I'm sure he is back and forth from home quite often.

 

Brady is getting along with his roommates pretty good - he just wished they would do the dishes more - LOL!

 

The first week of school was a little stressful. Brady is struggling with his Calculus 2 class. I had to mail him his note book from his High School Calculus 1 class - so he could review. He told me today that he has a "study buddy" and he's been putting in lots and lots of hours studying and doing homework for his Calculus class. I hope it gets better for him.

**Brady's facebook message today 9/12/12: I sat in on math class taught by a different teacher than the one I have, and the lecture was wonderfully better then the lectures my teacher gives. I think I'm going to show up to all the lectures for the different class from now on, so I'll have math 8 hours a week now, 3 nice lecture hours with the good teacher, and 5 confusing and dismal hours with the teacher I signed up for. I also have a study buddy and do homework in the math lab with her, so when we get stuck we get helped by a TA. Homework is going so much better. I'm going to survive calculus this year! **

 

The rest of his classes he absolutely loves.



Brady Is Going to BYU

Brady's check in day at BYU was Wednesday, August 22nd, 10:00 am.

We decided to leave Tuesday morning, Aug. 21. 

I decided to rent a van to move Brady's stuff from Idaho to BYU. I picked it up the morning that we left, ran home and we filled that baby to the top.

 

I totally loved this van!!!! When I picked it up it only had 10 miles on it. BRAND NEW!!

When they handed me the keys to the van, I thought .... "What the heck??" But you put it in the slot and turn it like a key and it starts. WOW! Technology is cool. The van handled so nice and it made that 6 hour drive not to bad. We left around 9 am after packing the van and arrived about 3:00pm.

 

I decided to check in early and unpack the van on Tuesday and pay the early check in fee of $15. I thought it was totally worth it, instead of having a risk of someone breaking in the van and stealing everything that night. 

We picked up the keys, went through a short orientation and then found Brady's building. All the buildings had some kind of welcome sign on the outside of the buildings. They were all different. This was Brady's building.

When we arrived at the door, there was this welcoming sign (last names have been blotted out). Brady's roommates are Kirk and Joseph.

Of course I needed a picture or two of Brady around campus.

Brady's apartment/dorm is close to the stadium. Brady's college job is working at the stadium during the games. 

Driving through Salt Lake City and into Provo I couldn't believe how big it has gotten. When I lived there 15 years ago, there was quite a break between SLC and Provo with a mountain you went up with the prison on the side as you drove up the mountain. Now there is NO break between SLC and Provo. It was weird - it sure has changed.

I was in AWE of the Wasatch Mountains as we drove in. I have forgotten the majesty of those beautiful mountains! How I miss them! I wish I could have taken additional time off to drive up the canyon - but it was a quick trip. We drove there on Tuesday and I left on Wednesday around 2PM. 

Of course I had to get a few pictures by the cougar at the stadium. 

Brady is such a good looking young man. I'm so proud of him and excited for this time in his life to attend BYU. Yea!

 I've only been to Provo maybe once before. After we moved Brady into his apartment on the 3rd floor - going up and down the stairs a million times - we decided to take a tour of the campus. We also wanted to see if we could get Brady's ID card. We had a campus map, but unfortunately I parked quite away from the main part of the campus. We parked and decided to go exploring.

 

I didn't realize that the campus was up hill. I only had my sandals on and we started to walk up...and up and up. Then I was faced with stairs. You have got to be kidding me. I about died after moving Brady in and having the wrong kind of shoes. But I did it and felt like ROCKY! I wanted to do the Rocky dance when I got to the top.

 

When we arrived at the building to get his ID card it had been closed only a few minutes. Too bad I wasn't a little faster going up those stairs - LOL!

 

We picked up his books from the book store and made our way back to the car. Going down the stairs was MUCH easier.

I'll admit that Brady was nervous for me to leave. The campus is huge and he didn't know how to get the campus from his apartment. I drove around and helped him get his barrings. I told him that as long as he goes toward the mountains he would find the campus. His apartment is a good 20 - 30 minute walk to the campus, so we purchased a shuttle pass. His Dad brought his bike, but I don't think he has rode it to campus yet.

 

I'm so excited for this wonderful opportunity Brady has to get his education from BYU!