Tess's Baptism

We're so proud that Tess chose to be baptized yesterday!  The day went great.  Bryan baptized and confirmed her and Gramma Terry gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost.

Tess was baptized with two other kids in her Primary class, Carter M. and Gavin B.  Here they are, looking dashing!

We were happy to have lots of family join us, and we missed our family who couldn't be there.  Here's some of the Jensen side...

...and here's some of the Terry side.

Here's bamatamb, complete with Bree's cheeser grin and Miles's silly face! :)

And here's Tess in her pretty new dress for church today.  Congratulations Tess!

 I am really thankful to be a member of our church.  My testimony is pretty simple.  The gospel brings a lot of peace and comfort to me in many things.  I love that we are taught about the Plan of Salvation, which means that we can be with our loved ones again someday.  I love that I can feel the Holy Ghost comfort me in times of sadness or stress.  I know that Jesus atoned for all of us so that we can repent and try to be a little better every day.  I know that Heavenly Father loves me and ALL of his children.  I really see Him as such a merciful, loving god.  Not a vengeful, judgmental god.  But just as a father who loves his kids and accepts them all, even in their imperfections.  That makes me feel good, because I'm so far from perfect.

Boating Trips

Summertime means boating time!  We love to go with Papa and ride in the boat, water-ski, tube, ride the wave runners, and last week at PineView we tried wakeboarding.  I've done it before and didn't really like it; my worst wipeout ever (that jacked up my back so bad that I still have lower back pain frequently) was on a wakeboard.  So I'm pretty wary of them.  I've never snowboarded, but I've heard that if you're a snowboarder you'll be a good wakeboarder.  Anyway, my niece Bayli is a snowboarder and wanted to try wakeboarding, so she brought up a board and we all tried it.  I still feel super nervous on it.  I can pop right up pretty easily...but then once I'm up I don't know how to maneuver or control the board at all.  Bayli did really well and she did say it's a lot like snowboarding.  I guess I'm just old school, but give me snow SKIS and water skis any day! :)  (Bryan felt the same way; he was better than me but he said he still prefers skiing over boarding.)

Bree had her first wave runner rides on this trip.  From that grin, I think she thinks they're great!

We also spent July 5th and 6th in Delta.  When you live in Tooele, Delta is the place to go for boating because, unfortunately, there are very few close lakes around.  Willard Bay and PineView might be the closest (at about 90 minutes away), but for only about 15 minutes more you can get to Delta, which is MUCH better.  People always ask us why would we go to Delta of all places?  Isn't it in the middle of nowhere?  Well, here's why...it's free to get in, the water is very warm, you don't get attacked by massive swarms of bugs like at Willard, the beach is sandy and not rocky, there are big trees for shade, and the best reason of all--the water is awesome for skiing!  It's not too crowded with boat traffic and the shape of the lake is such that the water is almost never choppy.  So that's our favorite spot for skiing, by far.  We grew up going there several times each summer.

Well, when we went down on the 5th, we were surprised by how full the beach was.  Hmmm.  We still got a spot, but as the day went on we were just amazed by the amount of people who kept coming, and kept coming, and kept coming!  It's hard to tell in the picture, but all the umbrellas and easy-ups were practically touching each other!  Blech.  (However, I think most of the people were just playing on the beach and by the shore; the boat traffic still was not horrendous, although it was certainly busier than usual.)

 We were worried about what it would be like on the 6th (a Saturday), but thankfully it was about normal.  I guess Friday was just a fluke.  Here we are in our shadier, less crowded spot, playing in the sand on Saturday...

 Bree needed a nap after not having one the day before so we went for a long boat ride, which usually does the trick.  She zonked out and I was even able to get out of the boat with her still asleep, which is quite unusual for my kids.  Ahh...naptime.

This July 6th trip is always done in honor and celebration of my mama, who died on July 6th, 1999.  It's surreal to think it's been 14 years.  I still think about her and miss her desperately every single day.  I wonder about what advice she'd give me as a mom.  (She'd probably tell me to chill the heck out about a lot of things.  I know I need to.  I'm too uptight about too much.)  I'd like to go shopping with her (and I don't even like shopping, but I'd like to go shopping with her.)  I'd like to go out to lunch and just visit.  I wonder what she'd think of me as an adult friend.  What would we talk about?  What would she be like with my kiddos?  (Awesome, that's what.)

Crap.  I need to stop writing the post now.  I can't see the computer screen anymore.

Blacksmith Fork Canyon 2013

Bryan's sister Johanna and her husband Burke just bought a trailer and they were excited to take it out camping.  We were very happy to tag along and show them our favorite camping spots up Blacksmith Fork Canyon.  Unfortunately when we got up there, our favorite spots were taken, but luckily we still found a spot and it's so beautiful up there that we didn't mind at all.  The only downsides were #1-the bugs!  (We usually go in August and it's not so buggy then;  June was super buggy) and #2-the heat!  Our favorite spots have more shade, so we were pretty hot in this new spot.  But we found a fun way to beat the heat--we brought our chairs down to the river and sat while we soaked our feet in the cold water.  We only had one or two accidents, with cousins tipping back and falling right in the water! :)  The kids loved playing in the river and fishing (Adrienne and Bryan each caught a fish for dinner too!) and riding the motorcycle & four-wheeler.  We also played lots of games and ate lots of good food.  And of course we always go into Logan for one meal (we went to LaBeau's this time--yum!)

A funny story about this next picture...Bree likes to trade hats with people, but then she won't trade back.  And she gets mad if the other person takes off her hat.  So, Bryan sat in the river like this for quite a while...

The kids found an area where they built these cool forts (actually I think they were mostly already there; kids over the years have added onto them I'm sure.)  Our kids made flags to designate the girls' fort and the boys' fort.