Christmas With the Jensen's 2014

Stephanie and Scott  with their cousin Spencer

December 2014

It has been an interesting and in many ways a difficult year.

 

 

As a family, we took a couple of trips to Salt Lake City. The first in April to attend General Conference. It was our first time going to conference and thankfully we were able to locate tickets (thanks Dad and Ellen Hindman!). The 2nd trip was in August for the Jensen family reunion. Lots of fun to be had! For both trips, we made the drives all in one day... thanks to having a 3rd driver in the family!

Steve has had the most changes in that he is now wholly involved in Anglicon, a British media convention which will focus on Dr Who. He is the treasurer of the executive committee, so there are lots of meetings, much time spent on the computer... and he is loving it! The convention

will be held in June, so there is much more work involved. Thankfully it is scheduled for the weekend following Stephanie's high school graduation. (whew).

Scott finished off middle school with a bang! In March he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, so that has been an underlying factor in all of his plans. Just getting the school nurses and the doctors all in sync has been challenging, but we have worked that out. It's an ongoing process that continues to evolve as Scott continues to grow. He is now 5'8" and only 2 inches away from his sister's height! Wonder when he will stop?

At Children's Hospital in Seattle

He is now a high school freshman and enjoyed his first sport, Cross Country, as a member of a team. At the banquet, he was presented with the plaque of having been the Most Improved! When he first started running, he could only run for 5 minutes before needing to slow to a walk. At the end of the season, he ran for a full hour, over 6 miles.

Scott continues to enjoy his video games and getting together with friends to play multi-player games. He is doing great with his classes and rarely comes home with homework. Thankfully his grades are doing great!

Stephanie is now a senior and loving every minute of it! One of her classes is Beginning Piano for a fine arts credit and she uses the time there to get in her practicing... so I rarely hear her play at home, which is sad for me!

Last spring for Mormon Prom, she had a date and had a grand time! Steve and I did the driving, which made it that much more fun for us. She continues to see Nephi, but insists that he "is just a friend".

For her senior project, she is writing a novel and therefore spends much of her time on her tablet... but we also wonder how much of that time is on Facebook and Pinterest??? Deadlines are looming, so this next month will be interesting to watch... and I wonder when she will let me read it?

Me? It seems that my life floated along based on how things were with my mother. Back in February, after the Seahawks won the Superbowl, Mom had asked me to make Seahawk hats for all the grandkids. Well, that motivated me like nothing else. I sat in my recliner, watched the Winter Olympics and knitted, and knitted, and knitted. After the Olympics were over, I kept on knitting. When we had our Seahawk party in May, I had hats for everyone... not just the grandkids!

One of the main reasons for the Seahawk party was to have a family get-together before mom's heart surgery. She had a pump put into her heart. I spent a week sitting in a hospital room waiting for her to wake up from a coma, which took 5 days! Recovery was not easy and not as quick as she wanted, but recover she did.

Then in July, I had taken Stephanie and some other girls, in early to Girls Camp, when I stopped to visit with her for a few hours. It was a fun, but short visit. And that visit was my last one with her before her stroke that night. She lost all communication skills and recovery was slow. It was hard on all of us, but especially my brother Patrick and my Dad. He never left her side! On November 12th Mom had another stroke, from which she couldn't recover. She left our presence on the 24th, her 59th wedding anniversary! Truly a hole in my heart!

We are so blessed to be a Forever Family! The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation really makes things worth living a righteous life.

Merry Christmas!

Sharon's news

The past few years have been busy ones for me. Once both children were in school, I learned that I was happiest if I kept to a routine.

Monday's is house blessing day (laundry, cleaning, etc.).

Tuesday is my volunteering day at the schools. For Scott's teacher, Mr. Brown, I either grade papers or work with the reading groups. I then head over to Park Place Middle School and help Stephanie's teacher, Mrs. Barton, with whatever she needs. I usually then go home and either work on one of my projects or bake cookies. :)

Wednesday I try to keep open for any doctor appointments and such. Oh...also on Mondays and Wednesdays you will find me at the YMCA doing water aerobics. My girlfriend and I truly enjoy the benefits of this exercise!

Thursday is "play day". This is when I get together with my friends and we create. Sometimes it is here in my studio and other times it is in their homes. We like to sew, scrapbook, knit and at times we have just watched a movie and gabbed. We also like to try new recipes that our respective families would rather not have to eat.

Friday morning I'm at the school again, this time as Bank Day lady. As part of my PTA duties, I'm one of the ladies that takes bank deposits from the students and then take that money to the bank. This event actually takes place before school opens so we are done by 9:30, and that includes the time it takes to get the money to the bank. When the student makes a deposit, they get a prize, so many of them are there every week! I started doing this when Stephanie was in 2nd grade and it really is a lot of fun! Who knows what will happen when Scott gets into Middle School?

Sometimes on Friday, I need to finish projects that were started on Thursday...in 2007 I started knitting and I haven't stopped! That year I knitted scarves for every member of my family. I learned how to cable knit, made some slippers, and this year I even made a few baby sweaters. Right now my passion of knitting has included in making dishcloths. I really like making the round ones, so much so that I had enough of them to give out at the Jensen reunion this past summer.

Also this year I have truly enjoyed sewing up bags. Some are big and some are small, but I have truly enjoyed making them.

A lot of this would not have been possible if it wasn't for my new studio! I love being in here! This is where I will usually be found...otherwise I'm in the kitchen or the laundry room. :)

As for Sunday's, I'm currently the Primary President in our ward and I love coming up with appropriate Sharing Times for the children. My counselors are wonderful and we have the greatest teachers!

Some of this will change soon as after the first of the year I will probably be headed back to work. I was offered a job in Omaha, but after much prayer, it was decided that it was best to stay here in Washington. I used to be a really great medical claims examiner, so that is what I will be looking to do again...we shall see...

Soooooooooo...if you want to watch my other blog...you can find it at sweetrt.blogspot.com

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!