Sippy Cup Soulmates

Sophie's best friend is little Abby Rae Jones. They have the best time when they get together. One of them will start squealing and screaming and it will get the other going until they're both making the most amazing sounds at the top of their lungs. Then Abby will do something and it will get Sophie laughing, and they can go for hours. The other day Sophie was acting whiny and then Abby came over and Sophie was immediately all better and happy as a clam. They are partners in crime and get into everything together, but have so much fun doing it! They learn things from each other, both good and bad. Abby is 5 weeks older, so she's taught Sophie how to crawl and get teeth and to do Sophie's favorite new tongue noises. And Sophie's shown Abby the art of sucking your thumb, but Abby still prefers her pacifier. They're so much fun to watch together and provide endless entertainment for their parents. So it is with great sadness that we learned that the Jones family will be moving in a few weeks to Wichita, Kansas. We don't know what we're going to do without them right around the corner from us. We aren't sure Sophie will know how to handle this. She will greatly miss her little Abby Rae, and her mama will miss Abby's mama, Tash. They're going to find a great job and a beautiful house for us in Wichita, though, so maybe we'll be together again next summer (yeah, over my mom's dead body!)

Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me!

Arrrr, Mateys! Shiver Me Timbers! These be some fiersome pirates here for the Jensen Family Reunion this year! And one of the wee ones will not be wearing a shirt! She'll be walking the plank for that one, she will! Savvy? Our team of pirates in the treasure hunt was the fastest and beat all the other skurvy dogs back to the finish. Here we are searching for buried treasure in the cemetery.
The men all grew their pirate beards out for the occasion. None of their wenches were liking it very much!
This little pirate didn't like the cold water! What kind of a pirate is that?!
She did like the bubbles, however! Wait, pirates don't do bubbles!

All Pottered Out

We did it! Joseph and I both finished reading HP 7 at a ridiculously late hour last night (or should I say this morning?) but it was well worth the lost sleep. We both loved the last book in JK Rowling's brilliant series and were not disappointed with how she wrapped it all up. And we were also rather suprised with how many things we had guessed correctly about! Not all our hypothesizing was on the mark, but a lot was. We're feeling the let-down right now of it all being over and wish that it could continue through many more years, but all good things must come to an end I guess.Joseph snapped a picture of me with my HP tattoo on my arm (that we got at the Barnes and Noble party) while reading the book. Joseph was kind enough to let me read the book first since it was his Mother's Day gift to me, so he watched Sophie most of the day Saturday. It was too hot to be outside much, so at one point I left my cave to wander out and see where they were, and I found Sophie and daddy playing in one of Sophie's favorite places, the bath.

9 Month Pictures

And the best part was, these were all free!

Taylor the Fix it Boy

This is a song that Becky and Joseph sang at Joseph's brother's wedding dinner. There have been calls to see it again by the family and so here it is... FYI if you don't know the song "Taylor the Latte Boy" or don't know Taylor it's probably not worth seeing and won't be very funny.

The Laundress Extraordinaire

Sophie looooves to help me with the laundry. She can whip the clothes out of the washer faster than I can shovel them in. So today I got smart (yeah I know, at last) and decided to put her skills to work by having her pull the clothes out of the dryer. I simply moved the clothes out to where she could reach, put the basket under her, and she went to town. And 60% accuracy ain't bad! That isn't breaking too many child labor laws, is it? :D

Having way too much fun with this.

"Look at who? Huh? I don't get it."

No matter what we tried, we could not get both Sophie and Austin to look at the camera at the same time. But they were still so cute! Sophie loves her only cousin on the Lamb side!

No Opened-Mouth Kisses 'Til You're Married!

No matter how many times we remind her of this, Sophie still hasn't got closed-mouth kisses down. And she's making a play for MY man! (To be honest, she just wanted daddy's sucker, so she settled for biting the stick instead. :D)

Jazz Baby

Sophie loved banging on the piano with Uncle Geoff at Gramma and Grampa's. Too bad we don't have one at home!

GO BUCKS!

Becky and Joseph both have a 10 year high school reunion this summer and are really starting to feel our age! :) Becky's (my) reunion was in her former hometown of Pendleton, Oregon last weekend, so I made the trip with Sophie and my mom (sadly Joseph couldn't go) to see what my classmates have been up to the past 10 years. There were many of my close friends who didn't make it (like Angi, Lacey, Jeremy, Doug, Andrea, Melissa, & Lindsay) but there were a couple of people I really wanted to see from the old "gang" who did show up, like Kim Smith and Kevin Johnson, so that was great to see them. Everyone said they thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth because when my family moved to Utah, I didn't go back to P-town very often. So it was great to get caught up on people's lives, see spouses and kids, and hear about the adventures the last 10 years have brought. I have so many great memories from life in Pendleton, especially my high school years, and it was a lot of fun to visit the town and the people there that I love.

With Kim Smith and Kevin Johnson at the dinner in the Let 'Er Buck Room (I can't believe I've been in there now! How scandalous! If you know anything about the Pendleton Round-Up you know why I say that!)

At the picnic where we all got to show off our kids. Kim has a little 4-year old named Jadyn who looks exactly like her daddy and has quite the sassy attitude! :)

I felt like we should do a classic Spellout at the end of the reunion like we used to end everything with, but we didn't. So here it is now: P-E-N-D-L-E-T-O-N! Go Bucks!

Austin Family Reunion

We had a wonderful time with Becky's family at the annual Austin Family Reunion last weekend. Here are some highlights of the fun.

Sophie enjoyed the root beer a little too much! :)

That ball sailed over Joseph's head in left field but only got me a double. (Joseph caught most all of the balls that were hit his direction, so I was pretty excited that he wasn't expecting mine to go so far.)

Our lane was the XX lane with several of us coming very close to getting a turkey. Peter got the game high with 174 but Mom was close behind with 161, her best ever! (thanks to her 5 strikes in one game! Wow!)

Sophie loved getting to know some of her cousins better. Aubree and Ellie were kind enough to play "Fetch" and "Paddycake" with her to her heart's content (or their heart's content.)

Independence Day

Sophie was our "Lil' Miss Firecracker" for the 4th of July this year. With her red hair that statement couldn't be more true!
We had fun with baby Austin and Abby & Peter

Addicted...or Not

I took this quiz to find out how addicted to blogging I am, and I came out right about where I thought I'd be. I love to write new posts on my blog and love to read all of your fun posts and see your pictures, but I limit myself (usually) to pictures and stories of Sophie. For me the blog is just another scrapbook (which is bad sometimes because I'm neglecting my actual scrapbooking because I spend more time doing this now) but it's not a journal or venting station like it is for some. Thanks to Oliver for the link to the quiz, and I agree with him that I blog because it's a way of keeping a family history of sorts for lots of friends and family to see. How addicted to blogging are you?

61%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Online Dating

Hitched!

Last Friday, June 29th, Taylor Jensen married Shelly Cook in the Salt Lake Temple. The day was wonderful for all involved and they're so happy to finally be married! Hooray!
Shelly and Taylor with SophieThey sure liked doing this shot over and over again! Woo woo! Hubba hubba!

The Wedding Dinner

The old quartet with Taylor as the lead serenaded Shelly with "In the Still of the Night."
The bride, the groom, and the Jensens and Cooks.
Gettin' some good grub!

Bob put on a fabulous wedding dinner the night before the wedding. The decorations were beautiful and the food was delicious. And the entertainment wasn't bad, either! (In addition to the quartet, Joseph also sang a song with me, a spoof on "Taylor, the Latte Boy" that we entitled "Taylor, the Fix-it Boy." Lots of fun!)

Jensen Clan Pics

Everyone from Taylor's and Shelly's family were here for their wedding! The only two who couldn't make it were the missionaries, Maria and Lee, and they definitely had a good excuse.

The Jensen Family

Willis, Jenilyn, Sadie, Aaron, and Susannah. Those kids sure know how to strike a pose!

Taylor the groom with Bob and Craig.

The Joseph Jensen Fam

It's Jensen family tradition for the groom and his brothers to take a "tough guy" picture at every wedding. Most of them can't do it without cracking at least a little smile. :)

The Reception

Taylor and Shelly's wedding reception was at the tip top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake. It was beautiful and a lot of fun.
Cutting the cake.Somehow some cake managed to find its way all over Taylor's face! No clue how that happened! ;)
The wedding line rubbing shoulders with Elders Bednar and Perry.
Elder Eyring also came, as well as Elder Uchtdorf (not pictured) and several Seventy.

Cousin Luvin

Sophie got to play with a lot of cousins at the wedding since all of her cousins on the Jensen side were here for it!All the grandkids with the newest member of the family, Shelly. We never could get all the babies to look and smile at the same time, and one person especially did not want to participate in this picture, but it still turned out cute.
Sophie and Susannah at the reception.

"Put your hands up and spread 'em! You're under arrest!" was what was going through my mind as I watched Sophie and Savannah play together. :)