The most amazing Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was so fun and amazing. First, Leah and I sat and talked secretly how we knew the boys were planning secret stuff for us on Valentine's. We tried to guess, but we were a little off. We woke up and Tad took us over to Joe and Leah's for breakfast. Tad and Joe made us pink heart-shaped pancakes and sausage. It was delicious. Then they took us sledding in a little kiddie pool out at the park. It was kind of an interesting situation, but we had fun anyway. We took pictures, but they are on Joe and Leah's camera, so I'll get them later. We went back to their place to watch a movie, eat some lunch and just chill. We came home, did some cleaning/homework and waited around for dinner to be made by my amazing husband. He made us spaghetti, breadsticks, some veggies, and a dessert tray of oreo's and chocolate almond bars. It was all delicious. Then it was gift time. I recreated the time when Tad proposed, in our living room, and told him we're finally going to get him a new ring. Tad got me a beautiful necklace, some Lindtt chocolate and lots of love! 

Sunday we came home from church and Afton had not slept at all that day. I put her in her high chair for  lunch really quick and I look; she fell asleep. It was so cute.

Toy Bin Fun

Well, I've been trying to post this other video and apparently I need to fix some things, but Afton says a few things about her Grampy. Anyway, I'll just have to post other things until then. First of all, one day I was checking a few things on the internet and I looked over and she was sitting inside her toy  bin. I'm sure how she got in, especially because it was only open a little bit. Here are some pictures from that experience. 

Bubbles and Happy Birthday Grampy!

I had been helping out in the nursery a few times, and the kids loved the bubbles, so we got some for Afton. Apparently, Tad cut off the video before I finished translating for Afton, but she said, "Ehauuuuuuaa." Which probably meant something like, "We love you Grampy, and Happy Birthday!"

Random funny baby!

Tad had Afton singing and I tried to catch her on camera but she wouldn't give in. She was just so happy to be on camera, I couldn't help but to post it. And I love that last look she gives.

Dancing & Bethy's favorite song!

Funny Uncle Aaron

Back in Idaho

Back to Idaho...It's been well, cold, since we got back. When we got back we saw a few feet of snow and felt the freezing Rexburg wind, but this is our last winter here, hopefully. I love Rexburg, but don't really want to spend the rest of my life here.
Tad is back in school. He is taking and online class as well as his senior seminar class. So far so good and he's been able to get a lot of hours at work since we have more open time. I am just chillin' with Afton and loving every minute of it. I have been able to read books, get a schedule going and play around with Afton. She is such a joy in my life and I realized how our lives are planned out for us, if we live righteously. I'm not saying I'm perfect, just that the Lord knew how much I would love and need Afton at this time. It's amazing. Anyway, on Wednesdays I watch two little boys for a couple of hours so their mother can go to class. She is actually one of the sisters that watched Afton while I was in school, so it's great that I can sort of pay her back. The boys are so cute and it's good for Afton to play with other kids. She is growing up so fast. When we got back and put her in her high chair we realized how big she has gotten. Just about another month and she will be a year old! I can't believe it has been a year.
We have been spending a lot of time occupying ourselves with Pounce (or Nerts, whatever you call it) and playing games with the cousins. Leah, if you haven't seen their blog, is getting a little bit bigger and we are so excited for Baby Lucci. We've also spent time with Russell, aka Uncle Sussell. He actually babysat last night while Tad and I went to a show on campus called ComedyImprov. It's a group of four people, Kirby Heyborne, Corbin Allred, Lincoln Hoppe and Kelly Lohman. I'm sure you all know who Kirby is but Corbin and Lincoln are Mormon actors too (Corbin is in Saints and Soldiers), (Lincoln is in The RM and Single's Ward). It was pretty funny, even though Kirby is a little bit full of himself. They did a musical that was about thirty minutes and it was the most hilarious thing ever. The audience chose the topic of the musical, the title "Rexburg Love", and the hit song "Because it's cold." Corbin's character almost died because Kirby wanted to be with the girl, but he sensed the audience would hate him, gag him, and kill him as well! Anyway, it ended up happily and we all laughed hysterically. I want to go see it again, but oh well. (See the funny things you could come to Leisha!) Kirby was climbing over the rows when they first came out and stopped right in front of us and sat next to a girl for a little while. All the girls were screaming. It felt like I was on some TV show. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and were glad we got to go.
Well, I went back over our pictures and realized there are quite a few I haven't posted so here they are!

These next pictures are a little older. They are mostly from Russell's camera so...

This is from Tad and Afton's trip down to California to see Russell come home from the mission.

Yes, I married the weirdo on the right! ;)


This picture is a panoramic view of Afton's finally mostly finished room.

Christmas at the Jaunty Jensens

I have a lot of pictures to post, but not much to update otherwise. We are back in Idaho after a great Christmas with my family in Georgia. Tad, Afton, and I flew out the week before Christmas although at first we planned on driving (thanks to Tad's parents for the plane ride)! It would have been a crazy drive, but the flight was not bad at all. Afton was great, waving to all the cranky people in the airport and sleeping most of the plane ride long. Even when she was awake, she was great. Of course when we finally got home she was the hit of the party. Everyone loved her and she misses all the family's attention. (Not that she doesn't get enough here!) We had so much fun, basically living and breathing games with the family the whole time we were there. We played Foosball, Perudo (liar's dice), Scrabble, Catch Phrase, and basketball as much as we could. Tad and I got to spend time with my parents Christmas shopping while Aunt B (Bethy) babysat. Thanks Bethy for all the babysitting!! We also got to go on a date to Chili's and got the best dessert ever made, the Chocolate Molten Cake, because of the free babysitters. I don't know how long it had been since we had been on a real date.
Christmas was a little different this year with all of the kids all grown up and not believing in Santa anymore. But we still felt the spirit of love and giving which is most important. I wished that we had had more to give, but it was just great to see Afton being able to spend time with her Grammi, Grampi, and aunts and uncles. We got more than we could have ever wanted at Christmas, not just in our presents under the tree. That day when we can all be together, with no traveling distance between us all, will be the best day. I love spending time with family! So back to the itinerary, we also went on a hike (Tad and I) with my dad. We had a graduation party mixed with a birthday party for Caitlin, our neighbor. That was the day we persuaded Beth, Jon, and Tyler to do the sweater chicken. Bethy, you should post that video! Last, because it was the worst part, everyone got sick, except for Mom, me and Afton, luckily. It was the worst flu scenerio ever! With a house full of sickies and a baby I was definately stressing out. Luckily it all ended well and it was toward the end of the trip instead of earlier.
We loved every minute of our vacation and being able to see my family, which doesn't happen very often. Hopefully, it can happen more often this year. We love you guys!!

Thanksgiving in December!

Going back...way back to Thanksgiving. I have pictures from Thanksgiving and so I should probably get them on here, huh? It was a ton of fun. Tad's family had a family reunion in Brianhead, Utah. I had been there once before after our wedding on the way back to Rexburg. I remember it being a long drive up the mountain, but it was beautiful. It is still the same, except this time we had snow. Tad's sister-in-law's family owns a condo (or two) up there and that's where we all stayed. It was so amazingly beautiful, with all the wood, the fireplace, all the family, and snow outside. I felt like I was on some Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. We stayed there for about 5 days. We all played games, sat around and talked and there was a lot of snowboarding/skiing. I went snowboarding for the first time and almost was responsible for the unfortunate deaths of my brother-in-law and three other strangers. Some think that snowboarding is the hard part, little do they know. That part was hard to get a hold of, but it didn't take very long. The hard part is the lift. The lift? Yes, the lift. I had a hard time not falling and my second try up was almost deathly. I prepare myself to get off the lift. I am in the middle between Tad and Russell. Well, unfortunately Russ is goofy footed and was unaware of my stumbling, so I crashed into him. Before I could get up and regain my pride the three guys behind us, pro's by the look of them, crashed right into me and Russell. One guy apparently toppled over me, according to Tad. (He stood by watching the whole thing.) Poor guy hurt his wrist but I was okay, physically. My third run up, the lift operators learned to watch for me. She signaled me a thumbs up and said, "I gotcha!" Thankfully, everyone knew to watch out for me after that. It was quite the experience, but I loved it. It was fun to have Tad there teaching me and encouraging me. He was so good to me and good to watch! ;) What a Thanksgiving!Afton loving the peas!

This was the crazy hat contest!

This is Afton's favorite cousin, or Micah's favorite is Afton, either way!

Graduation! Woop Yeah!!

Well, here we are! Finally, posting something new now that I have all the time in the world. You'd think I would have gotten it done sooner, but no.

So here's the skinny.

First thing of graduation day was to go sign my student teaching papers. That is a story in and of itself that if you want to know details you can ask me personally, otherwise you get the short story. My cooperating teachers ganged up and wrote pretty much the same evaluations. So my university supervisor wrote up her own letter of recommendation basically counteracting what they said. She said, "I wrote 'Ph.D' by my name hoping it would give me a little more authority." I was so grateful to her and her advice to me throughout the semester. It definately would not have been something I would have wanted to stick with if it hadn't have been for Sister Hawkes. However, it's done and hopefully when I want to go back into the teaching profession, I'll get a job!

Also, I graduated and Tad walked. (He has one more class to take in the winter.) We had family come in Thursday before graduation. Then Friday, the big day, we all ate pizza over at Tad's aunt's house. It was quite the crowd, because Tad and I were graduating, Dallin and Katie (Tad's cousins), and Joe (another cousin). Their families came too, so you can imagine. But it was so much fun to have our families together like that. Anyway, after eating we all headed to get ready and line up. Tad and I sang in the graduation choir and it was amazing. The spirit was so strong with the songs we sang and I loved it. I'm not much of a singer but who can pass up an opportunity for special seating?! As the graduates all walked into the Hart building the faculty and staff were lined up against the side of the walls, clapping. At the end of the faculty line, President Uchtdorf was there complimenting everyone. He told Meagan and I that we looked magnificent! One word, Wow! So he and President Clark both gave amazing talks and helped inspire us to be better and share the Spirit of Ricks with everyone we come in contact with. Hopefully their talks will be posted soon. After commencement, we headed to the Kirkham building where we all would be walking. We all sat together and after a long song and some talks we did it! We walked, recieved our diploma covers and sat. It actually went by pretty fast after that, and we ended up taking pictures and talking for a while after. Everyone then came to our apartment, excluding Katie and Dallin and his family, and we all sat and laughed. What fun! I can't believe it actually happened. It was such a crazy day, but we did it. We graduated!!

Oh, and here's pictures!