MY wife

Michelle told me yesterday that she would love it if I posted something. So here it is. I LOVE YOU MICHELLE, you make me smile!

Just So You Know!

Tyler and I have decided to combine our blogs into ONE fabulous page ... (MINE!!) haha. We will no longer be posting on this site and will delete it in a week or so. So, everybody that is interested (which better be all of you), please go to your "Favorite Bloggers" page element and edit our blog address to this: www.famjenson.blogspot.com obeekaybee?!

We'll see you there from now on!

More Jib-Jab

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Jib-Jab: Gotta Try It!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Off She Goes ...

Marissa's first day of 5th grade! Can you believe it? She was so excited to get to school ... she was up and going on her own ... and completely ready 30 minutes early! What a cutie. AND - she's just as excited to go again tomorrow. Of course, her glasses broke this morning on her way out the door. So, that was frustrating. I'll have to take them in tomorrow to get them fixed. My sweet little baby - where is time going?


Aaaaaaaaand ... our super fun trip to IKEA today. Driving arrangements .... well, everyone knows that M is the favorite - and all the littles won the fight to go with her. :D! I only remembered to take pics of us eating lunch. The rest of the time, I was too busy shopping. I was planning on spending $15.00 for a cool knife ... but ended up spending $50.00. Agh! Do you think if I just kinda say, "uhhh ... I spent fift -- dollars," I'll get away with it? That's my plan, 'cuz ain't nothin' goin' back.



Hmmm ... has anyone seen Krystal's other shoe? Shoot! I hope I came home with it! ;)

Our 12th Anniversary

Look at us love birds - 12 years ago today ... and still goin' strong! We may be a bit chubbier ... okay, a lot chubbier - but more in love today as well. AND .... we've done quite well for ourselves these past 12 years. See for yourself:

And now ... we have a hard time believing it ourselves! ...

We have been so blessed!

Final Cut

So - these are the colors, pretty much exactly, that we chose for the outside of our house. We set all of our choices in stone tomorrow - so there's no turning back (without a hefty fee, anyway). So - let me know now what you think ... not that you'll change my mind ... but, it would be good to know! :) We chose almost all of the accents (garage, trim, pole, gutters) to be white - and then the door and shutters black. We're not TOTALLY set on the siding color ... is this about the right darkness of tannish/beige? Should we go darker? We're so excited!

Too Hot ...

Despite the fact that we had hair all curled and fixed for church this morning, the kids just got too hot on our picnic lunch today - and cooled off in the drinking fountain! We sure had a fun afternoon together.





Here are some of the highlights ...

The twisty slide with Uncle Jeremy and the tire swing with Daddy -

A big fun tree to climb -



Krystal thinks she's a photographer and needs to take pictures non-stop. She doesn't do too bad of a job - here's one she took of me and Ty ... and the other one is of her saying, "No fair!" because her turn to take pictures was over.

Uncle Jeremy ... PERIOD!!

Ended up being a great way to spend a HOT Sunday afternoon!

My Sand Tray Experience

At work I was asked to participate in a training for Sand Tray Therapy. Sand Tray is used mostly with children and individuals with lower cognitive functioning. It allowes the therapist to communicate with the client through play. I have always been skeptical of therapies that use symbols to mean different things (sometimes a cigar is just a cigar), but I decided to try it, because I do see value in sand tray as a way to help facilitate communication.

The training was basically a role play with me as a client. I was asked to create my world in the sand using different toys. I went to the stockpiles and slowly began going through each item. I saw a toy of a guy on a motorcycle, and thought I always have wanted one, so I put the motorcycle in the sand. I saw a figure of Harry Potter, and since I love to read and just finished book 7, I put that in the sand. I came to a teddy bear and felt compelled to put it in the sand, but quickly passed over it. I found a gorilla, palm tree, baseball bobble head and a peace symbol that I put in the sand (I thought to myself I have always wanted a gorilla as a pet, I love palm trees and who doesn't want peace?) I then thought I needed to grab that teddy bear, even though I don't have any particular reason. So I placed the teddy bear back in the corner. I was ready to begin.

The therapist started asking questions about the objects I placed in the sand. I had stories that related to each of them, except the teddy bear. The therapist started asking about the teddy bear and why I felt it didn't belong. I didn't really have an answer for her. Finally she asked "is the bear aware of any other object in the tray?" I told her that the bear was watching the bobble head. The bear was content to sit back and watch. Kind of like a grandpa.

When I said this, my unconsious mind blurred with my conscious (if you believe that kind of thing) I realized EVERY thing I put in my sand tray reminded me of my Grandpa Lundgren. Grandpa used to take us to the Sand Dunes with his moped, he used to read the newspaper with us on his lap, he took me to the zoo when I was a kid, and I remember holding his hand in front of the gorilla enclosure, we sat underneath a tree when he took me fishing at Henry's Lake. I realized that the teddy bear represented my Grandpa, and the bobble head represented me.

Grandpa is aware of me. He has been with me even though I can't see him. He continues to serve me and others through the veil.

Just wanted to share that experience.