SMITH STEELERS!

Eli got to be one of the lucky young ones to be on Coach Rodney's flag football team. They were in it to win it. It was his first time getting a play book full of plays that he needed to memorize. Eli would be a killer at practices but then when it came to game time and he would get the ball he would get a little nervous and not be as strong as in practices. It was good for him to not be top dog, but a little sad to watch him lose some of his confidence. The team did great though - they were undefeated and won the championship - which was a pretty intense game - I think so parents were about to brawl - I might have had to jump in just for the fun of it! They got 2 trophies, a shirt and a medal - he was pretty stoked about it all! Coach Rodney loved working with Eli though - all his coaches do - he is such a good listener and tries so hard - everyone loves him :)

Eli asked for the first time to have a headband and the tall socks like the other boys - of course we were happy to indulge him in his cuteness! 
 

 

 

 Undefeated Smith Steelers...

TEMPLE CULTURAL CELEBRATION CONCLUSION....

How did the Temple Cultural Celebration end for Miss Emma?! Well....there are many sides to each story...I will tell a couple of them and you can pick from whose side you would like to stand on, I am sure you will stand on Emma's side, since she is a shining light and my side is negative nelly :)

As the date to start practicing grew closer we still had not heard back from the Stake Pres yet so it was basically the answer for Emma to participate was a no. So many things bothered me with this. I wish they would have gone with the spirit of the law, I wish they would have actually contacted us and followed up like they said they would, I wish she would have been born on her due date (Feb 27th) - but none of those were the case so we had the hand of cards we were dealt.

We had the other stake contact us and they were willing to have Emma dance with them because she was getting the inactive girl to participate. They came and made Emma her security badge, ordered her shirt, had me fill out her permission slip, medical slip, put us on their facebook page, instagram page, ward email list, everything. We were good to go.

Christmas came and went and finally it was January and the day before the first practice was to start. We got a phone call letting us know what time and where Emma needed to be for the practice. That night we did one final talk with Emma about it, Jared had to be somewhere during the time she needed to be driven and I had to be 2 places at the same time for all the boys so I just couldn't quite be pumped about this...we told Emma it was her decision and we would support whatever she decided and of course without hesitation she jumped up and said, "I want to do it!!" We told her that was fine, but she needed to pray about it that night when she went to bed and then let us know in the morning what she decided.

The next morning as I was getting the kids up and ready for school Emma told me she didn't want me to pack her a lunch, I asked her why and she told she was going to fast that day for an answer as to what she should do.

I picked her up from school and she had 3 hours before she needed to be at the first practice. She got in the car and she said, "mom, you know how you told me sometimes when you fast and you don't really get an answer either way that sometimes that just means the answer is no...." then the tears came streaming down her face...."I don't think I should dance" and then she went into the belly sobs.

My heart broke for her. I know how bad she wanted this. I knew how important this was for her.

We went home and she told Jared and we were all sad again, but then Jared being the amazing dad he is looked at her and said, "honey, I am more proud of you for making this decision on your own and for sustaining and supporting your leaders even if it was hard and not what you wanted."

It was true. My 11 year old learned a valuable lesson. A lesson I am still struggling with.

I couldn't bring myself to call the other ward and let them know how much we appreciated all they had done for Emma, but that she would not be participating so I made Jared do that. We told Emma we would make sure she had a birthday party that day so she wasn't sitting around thinking about it.

We were proud of her. I called the Bishop to brag about how amazing my daughter was. It was over and we were coming to grips with it.

Every once in a while people would say things to me that would make me angry...

"well at least she doesn't have to dance all day like the other kids do" - ummmmm, you do know Emma is a dancer and 7-8 weekends out of the year she will dance all friday afternoon/evening, start Saturday morning at 8am, finish by 11-12pm and then get up on Sunday and do it from 8am - 2pm. Ya, I am pretty sure she can handle it.

"my kid doesn't even want to do it, it's lame" - wow - you do not have the right outlook at all.

"I understand what you are going through, my kid missed something because of their birthday date too!" - waiting a year to go to camp is not the same thing - this was a once in a lifetime opportunity - there will not be on next year - sorry, not the same thing. 

Things like that get me upset....but not as upset as the email that I got last week from the ladies in charge of the special dance numbers...they were short 40 girl dancers for a part and needed extras ASAP and they only had one practice to learn it all and they knew certain girls could handle it. SERIOUSLY!!!! WHY ARE YOU ADDING SALT TO MY WOUND?!  Yes, Emma is completely capable of doing this, but no, she isn't 12 :(  I never did show or tell Emma about this email. I stewed over it for a couple of days. Thought about the letter I wanted to write the Stake Pres and let him know what I thought.

I never did anything except for vent to Jared, Tiffany and my mom. March 1st is going to be a bitter sweet day for Emma, March 9th is the day all the youth will bare their testimonies about it and Emma will have to sit there in church and listen to it all. March 10th - no one will ever talk about it again.

This certainly isn't the end of the world by any means. I just hate to see Emma want something so bad and unable to do it. I am learning through my amazing daughter about being a better person and about supporting our church leaders better. Tiffany said someday something amazing will happen for Emma and she will blessed for her decision she is making, and I really do believe that will be the case for this little girl.

WCDE AND VALENTINES DAY 2014!

Valentines days was sort of a bummer - we didn't get it to make it a whole family day like we usually like to do because Emma and I had to be in Tucson for dance. I was able to help out in the twins class during their party and then I ran over to Eli's class we posed for a picture together and then I kissed my boys and said good bye and went home to set up their scavenger hunt and pack for Tucson. Jared was kind enough to video tape the scavenger hunt for me so I could watch the boys read each clue and run to the hiding place and see how excited they were when the found the pile of loot. Love my boys!

Even though I didn't get to be with my entire family - I really enjoyed spending the weekend with Miss Emma and my dance friends! These girls make dance fun for us and we love the dance family we have become - dance would stink without these ladies!

Emma's dance group was phenomenal this weekend! WCDE only allows each studio to bring 20 dances so they brough 4 of Emma's. 2 of hers were the top scoring dances for the studio and the other 2 tied for next in line. These girls are amazing together. The studio as a whole came and kicked some serious booty.

Fly



Fix You

White Wing Dove

Awards

Emma got called up on stage in the junior room to dance the dance they had just learned in front of over 100 girls. She was on cloud 9. Stacia was so sweet to tape it for me and Andrea sent me the text saying she got called up and took a picture of her. Watching Emma dance and seeing her face is what it is all about - the girl was beaming from ear to ear.

"Let it Be" was the over all highest scoring dance for SAS this weekend so they got to dance in the showcase. They were the youngest group to dance - they danced against all seniors and teens. So proud of all the girls hard work this weekend!

The ride home was pretty fun too. We had "The Voice" sing-off competitions via voxer with another car - it was hilarious and helped wake up these sleepyheads from the long exhausting weekend!

TYSON!

Tyson was Student of the week and got to read to his class! He was so excited.


Here is also some random drawings from Mr. Tyson.

DADDY/DAUGHTER FORMAL!

For activity days girls they had a daddy/daughter formal this year. It was the same night that Jared won tickets to take the boys to see the Lego Movie so we thought it would be fun if Grandpa Rodgers took Emma instead. We called him up and asked him and he was more than happy to spend the evening with her. He showed up and waited patiently for his date to finish getting ready.  Once she was all ready he gave her the corsage he had gotten her. She was so excited. It was her first one! She couldn't even remember what they were called, but she knew exactly what to do with it. They made a little craft together, ate dinner and dessert together and then someone taught them how to waltz. I guess the music they used was 4/4 time and not 3/4 time which is what a waltz should be, but Emma was probably the only one who caught on to that...she turned to grandpa and told him the time was 4/4 not 3/4 and so the music was wrong - guess all that dancing she does each week is teaching her something about music, ha ha! She had a great time and was so glad that Grandpa took her!

100 CLUB!

Both twins finally made it to the 100 club at school (counting to 100 by yourself). Tyson made it in December and Tyler made it this week. I stopped by to drop some work off the teacher wanted me to do and she told me that Tyler had just made it - I looked at him very proudly and told him how excited I was...he looked up from working on his paper, looked at me, and then went right back to work again. That boy does NOT like attention. The quieter I kept it about making it the better. Even the other day the boys got in the car after the bus and Tyson says to me all excited, "Tyler got treasure box today!" I was asked Tyler why and he just shrugged his shoulders. Tyson was quick to inform me he got it because he was such a good reader that day! Tyler that bum :) Tyson on the other hand is very excited to celebrate his accomplishments!

RUNNING CLUB RACE!

The boys signed up for running club this year. They liked it a lot at first. Then wanted to quit (but I won't let them, they started it and now they are going to finish it!). And now, they are just waiting for the season to end. I am not so sure if we will do this again next year, I know Tyler is out for sure. Tyler Man is the fastest kid ever, but he has to want to do it, other wise, forget it, he could careless - as for long distance (each race is 1.5 miles)- ya that is not for him. Eli does fine with it, gets all his laps in and has a fun time doing it. Tyson on the other hand - long distance might be his thing! He is slow and steady and wins the race, literally! At the end of the race last week I was going to take all the kids home right after, but we couldn't find Tyson so we had Emma, Tyler and Eli go and wait by the awards while Jared and I looked for Tyson - we finally found him in the crowd waiting for awards. I was just standing there with Jared waiting for the time to pass and not even paying any attention when they said, "Tyson Jensen, 7th place!" Say whaaaaat?! Ya, Tyson was the 7th fastest kindergarten boy from 5 different schools. He totally shocked us all. We were so proud of him!

waiting to start the race...

 Eli...

 Tyson...

Tyson kicked it up a notch at the end and wanted to beat this boy - so many parents at the finish line were cracking up!

Tyler started out the race at full speed and needless to say, ran out of gas mighty fast. Jared ended up running along side of him to keep him going and making sure he beat the lady who walked the race and got all the scragglers....

 

 
Tyson Jensen, placed 7th in the top 8! Woo hoo!!

TYPICAL JENSEN SATURDAY!

Our Saturdays are jam packed full of sports for our kids and as exhausting as it is - I LOVE SATURDAYS!! I love watching my kids do what they love to do! 7 hours of dance, 2 hours of football, 3 1/2 hours of soccer and there would have been 2 1/2 hours of baseball but it interfered with other things!

Emma in ballet

Tyson playing soccer

Tyler playing soccer

Eli going in for the kill in football. I forgot to take pictures of him playing soccer - oops.