Fourth of July

I love Independence Day. It's been my favorite holiday as long as I can remember. I love Christmas, too, but since it usually equates with snow, the 4th of July takes the number one spot for me!!

We have a tradition of going to Plain City, where Gary's grandparents live and all the kids (which are now great-grandkids since the youngest grandkid is 13!) ride on the fire truck with Grandpa and Grandma Jensen and they all throw candy out! Then there is the carnival where the kids get to catch a fish with their bare hands! And this year was the first time we had a participant and winner in the chicken scramble! Check out the pics below!! (By the way, my sister-in-law, Justalyn, made the adorable shirts.)

(Bryker is missing due to a potty run!)

Hilarious! That is a complete stranger he is holding on to in the fish pond!!

That complete stranger helped him catch this one, though!

So Gary took Bryker and his cousin, Buddy, to watch the chicken scramble. Next thing we know, Buddy has a chicken!

Unfortunately he was informed that he couldn't take it back to Arizona with him, which was followed by about eight hours of off-and-on crying and begging!

Post-parade fun: birthday make-up! Thanks so much, Aunt Tiff!!!
(It just might find it's way into the garbage can soon!)

My baby girl is TWO!

Not sure how it happened, but she is ALL two, with full attitude and everything...despite her sweet, happy faces in these pictures!!

Birthday morning (obviously!)

She's been talking about a PINK "I know you" cake for weeks.

She loves her new SCOOTER!!

And the Dora chair has been a big hit
(except when her brother wants a turn...he has to get out before he gets bit)

Major Events

My little sister, Linsey, is at the MTC right now! She will be heading to Argentina in a few weeks. Here is the whole family at her farewell. Those who know her won't be surprised to hear that when my parents dropped her off at the MTC, she was quickly noticing that she might have overpacked just a little bit! She had two giant suitcases (one weighed 70 pounds) and all the other sisters had two small ones. In her words, "I can't look drab and boring. I have to accessorize a little bit at least." Hopefully she'll downsize before she heads to the airport. Follow her blog! http://hermanahunt.blogspot.com/



Last month, my cute niece was baptized. Isn't she adorable? We love you, Halle!

(pictured with great-grandpa and great-grandma Meyer and grandma and grandpa Hunt)


I just love this picture!

A really long one

#1. I jinxed us for the weather in Chicago. It was not beach weather at all. It was cold, windy and rainy. And, my favorite term from Chicago weatherman Tom Skilling: BLUSTERY. Yep, it was a little blustery. But our friends were cheery, happy and sunny! We had so much fun. And I hardly have any pictures to show for it. Although Bryker took a few of Claire on my phone while riding in their van (thanks again Heidi for driving us all over the city!). Now I kind of want to move back.

* We managed to get in a "nice" (it was still really cold) hour or two at the park for Asher's birthday

*Funny story: We went to a restaurant called Xoco and I think we had the only kids there! We literally waited for like an hour to get a table and the nice hostess gave the kids lemonade and was making conversation with them, trying to entertain them. So Claire asks, "Why don't you guys have any chairs at your restaurant?" That's what you get for making kids stand for an hour!


#2. This guy had preschool graduation. Only he's going to preschool again in the fall so it wasn't a true "graduation!" Their class sang about a dozen songs and I was crying about halfway through because I was laughing so hard. My kid turned out to be "that kid" that sings SO loud and is SO off-key! I asked his teacher afterwards why she didn't warn me and she said he never sang that loud in rehearsal. She said she was just happy that he was so happy to participate. Unfortunately he wasn't so happy to participate in picture-taking. This is about the best we got. Saddest part about graduation for me? No preschool for the summer. :(

#3. This girl is busy, busy, busy. Busy, busy, busy. She's either dressing up and accessorizing or stripping down and running around the house naked. She makes a daily trip upstairs to go in the "big girl" potty (which Bryker so nicely pulled out of the closet for her one day) and then she proceeds to take the little bowl out and hang it over the railing so I can see how good she did. Maybe she's ready to potty train? Too bad I'm not ready for it!!

*I hope it's obvious that she dressed herself in both of these pictures!


She also had a little bit of a rough time when we ditched her to go to Chicago. (Apparently she didn't think it would be fun to sleep in the grandma's cribs. Or sleep at all, really.) The end result is this:

A crib tent. I knew I was taking a chance with this but luckily for me she loves it. (As you can see, it's not only fun to sleep in there but jumping is lots of fun, too.) I lay her down and she says, "zip it up so I won't jump out." Yeah, because the jumping out part was getting dangerous. And the sleeping in the bed on the floor part was taking an hour to go to sleep. Thank you, crib tent. We are back to normal now.

The one thing I hear the most from Makenna all day is "Mommy, hooooooooooooooold me." Along with being busy, busy, busy, she is whiny, whiny, whiny! It must be a girl thing. Bryker was never whiny...instead he just yelled, threw tantrums, hit me, you know, boy stuff. I can't decide which is worse!

*This face makes an appearance at least 10 times a day


#4. Since birth, Bryker has been a little on the big side. Now whenever anyone asks his age, he says, "everyone thinks I'm six." Well, he just lost his two bottom teeth. Only he's not six; he's four-and-a-half. Or maybe he really is six and my due date was just REALLY off? Anyway, I wasn't ready for the lose-the-teeth drama but luckily his daddy has had a little experience pulling teeth.

Another example of why he might be six: his new favorite show is iCarly. Yes, iCarly. One time, during a commercial, he yelled for me to come over to the TV. It was Big Time Rush (if it's possible, an even dumber show than iCarly) and they were singing some song, which Bryker informed me was a Justin BEAVER song. And, just for the record, he doesn't like Justin Beaver.

*My "six-year-old" still likes a little cat nap here and there! No need to lie down. It's just as comfortable sitting up!

CHICAGO...in 12 days!!!

Hey friends in Chicago...we are coming for a visit! Gary has a conference May 13-15 so Bryker and I are tagging along. (We think the flight is a little too long for our wiggle worm that can't even make it through one hour of church so Makenna is staying with the grandma's.) We can't wait to see all of you and play in the best city ever!! And maybe we'll be lucky enough for this? (My most favorite part of Chicago!)

May 2009

Open for Business!

The office is officially open. No wall decor yet but at least there is seating!!

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THE KIDS....

This morning while I was getting ready, Bryker came in and said, "Look what Makenna did to my pants." I totally would have believed him if Makenna wasn't asleep in her crib. (And cause she's so good at writing letters already.)

Is it just me or do these kids look so big???

We took our first big train ride in Utah today. I have to say that the Frontrunner is pretty cool! Every time my kids see it, they beg to ride it so today I finally gave in. They loved it (even though Makenna isn't showing her happiness in this picture. Bryker had put his arm around her and she wasn't happy about that!).

And then we went to the Children's Museum to play and although I think it's a pretty decent museum, it was $25 for all three of us to get in. Seriously? And I searched and searched for discounts but couldn't find anything. How is it that I could get into any Chicago museum for free almost any time I wanted? Library passes, that's how. Come on, Utah!! I love this picture because Makenna is obsessed with princesses and she couldn't stop looking in the mirror when she had this dress on!

She's going on a mission!!

How is it possible that the little girl in this picture now has a mission call of her own?!! (And how is my BABY sister almost 21?) She's heading to the Argentina, Resistencia mission! (And yes, I had to google that. I can't even pronounce it, much less spell it!) CONGRATS, Lins!

Update

The street sign is up!



And here is our "home office" aka bedroom!


On a side note, here is a funny story for the day...Bryker had a swimming lesson today and I have to let him shower in the disgusting locker room showers because we head straight to preschool after. He doesn't think it's disgusting though. He loves it. He hangs his towel on the little hook right outside his shower. Then he puts his soap on the shelf, closes the curtain and tells me to leave him alone. So I'm hanging out around the corner with Makenna when I hear, "Roma, ro-ma-ma-a, gaga, gaga, ooh la la." I'm hoping nobody else notices when this young lady turns to me and says, "is he singing Lady Gaga?" That's all it took for Makenna to join right in!

I quickly explained that they just like to dance to the song so we play it on our laptop, but I don't let them watch the video...just listen to the song. For some reason she looked like she didn't believe me!!! What? Is Lady Gaga not appropriate for a four-year-old and one-year-old?!!!

Couser Orthodontics...coming soon!

Here is what Gary's office looks like right now.

It is scheduled to be open in about four weeks. CRAZY!

It's amazing how many details it takes to open an office. Just in the building alone, there were so many decisions to make. We had to pick out slate, granite, tile, wood, cabinets, countertops, sinks, faucets, door handles, the color of the operatory chairs, paint, game room stuff, lighting, signs, ...and more. So far everything is picked out. Next big step is decorating! (And I now know that I NEVER want to build a house. Ever!)

Then there are the business aspects:
-Logo (check it out!)

-Business cards
-Web site
-Referral pads
-Supplies
-Marketing
-Software
-Business licenses
-Phones and systems
-Utilities
-Insurances
-Employees (Gary is just starting interviews. We've received more than 100 resumes so far!)

Well that's all I can think of off the top of my head!! We're so excited for the opening. I'll post new pictures when the office is finished. I wanted to do before and after but every time I was at the office, there were so many workers there and they have done everything so fast that I never got the real "before" pictures!

Winter Fun

The ending of this video is pretty funny! (Especially since Makenna is a little on the whiney and "wussy" side anyway!)

Thank you, Walmart checkout lady

We have had sickness in our house. Bryker started throwing up five days ago and still isn't better. Gary went down last night and Makenna started a fever today. Such a fun Valentine's Day for us! Bryker even had to miss his very first Valentine's Day party at school! But there was at least one good thing that happened today. I was at Walmart buying some Nyquil and the checkout lady stopped and said, "Hmmmm....that's weird. It's asking for ID. I guess you have to be 18 to buy Nyquil now. Are you at least 18?" I looked at her for a second to see if she was serious. I said yes but she said it was a close call and she needed to look at my ID anyway. REALLY? I happily pulled out my license and told her I am 30. She said she couldn't believe it....but maybe she was just saying that because here was this lady in sweats, hair in a messy ponytail, with minimal mascara on, shopping at Walmart at 9 pm on Valentine's Day. Do you think she was just trying to be nice? Either way, I think I might start buying alcohol now just to see if I get asked for my ID again!

A few changes

It's been more than three months since my last post...the longest span ever! Most of you know we are Utah residents again, which has been so great. I only had to live in three other states to realize how much I love Utah weather!! How did I ever think the winters were cold here? And the summers? Only a handful of days that reach 100 degrees? So mild!!


Here is a quick recap of the last few months:

*Enjoying November in Arizona

*Bryker misses his cousins. He's already asked if we can go back to Arizona to play with Buddy!

(Carly's birthday party!)

*Grandpa and Grandma Hunt came to Arizona in December to help us start packing and to entertain the kids. They did a great job!

*1o-YEAR ANNIVERSARY...and not one picture. How sad! Gary and I left the kids in Utah and flew to Arizona to pack up our truck. To celebrate the big day, we wrapped furniture, taped boxes and cleaned our house! Then we drove to Utah. But being the sweet husband Gary is, he drove 11 of the 13 hours so I could read the Hunger Games series! It's amazing how fast 13 hours in the car can go by when you don't have kids with you!
10 years: 9.5 as student status, 7 moves, 4 states, 2 kids, and 1 orthodontic office opening soon!

*Christmas!

Makenna does a "cheeser" on cue now. Usually it's a little more exaggerated than this one.

Jensen family party. I was really surprised Bryker actually agreed to dress up AND was reverent the whole time! He's the shepherd on the left. How cute are these kids?!

Bryker was sick on Christmas. He puked on me. It was awesome.

Makenna loves, loves, loves makeup, jewelry, accessories, etc. Total girl!

*Catching up with friends from Chicago

Bryker was being such a stinker and wouldn't put his arm around Lily.
Some things never change.

*SNOW! We've spent a lot of time outside!

We even went to Bear Lake with our good friends and had such a blast!

And that completes the catch-up!!