GUYS TRIP!

In our 12 1/2 years of marriage, Jared finally left on his first guys trip. They got a cabin for a weekend somewhere up north. I was happy to let Jared go, I think its good for them to escape life for a bit...plus then I don't feel guilty about the trips I take, ha ha!  The whole group was able to go...

Ben, Matt, Jared, Brad, Brian and Chad


I am not sure all they did, but I do know there was lots of eating involved, hiking and who knows what...probably talks of the "Butterknife 2000", robofrying, driving parents cars in the middle of the night at age 14, shooting paintball guns at the park patrol office, etc (yes Jared, I am calling you out so someone day our kids will really know what you did :)

SOMETIMES IT HURTS BEING A BROTHER!

Jared was out hanging up the Christmas lights and Tyler and Eli were outside playing. The playing turned into fighting when Tyler decided to take something away from Eli. Eli had a hammer in his hand and decided to throw it at him in anger...it nailed him in the back of the head and Tyler started crying and the blood started flowing.

I could hear Tyler crying from inside the house and I could hear Jared telling him to go inside and see me, while he climbed down from the ladder. I went to see what was going on because Tyler doesn't really cry like that so I knew it couldn't be good. As I rounded the corner he was coming to me and I could see blood on his hands and Eli was right behind him and he was crying saying he didn't mean to hurt him. I asked him what he did and he told me he threw a hammer at him. "YOU THREW A HAMMER?!"  I made him go get me the hammer while I examined Tyler and when Eli came back he showed it to me and it was just a rubber Thor hammer that happen to hit Tyler on his head by the only hard part on the whole stupid thing.

I got Tyler all cleaned up and realized he was going to need stitches again. Jared and I calmly and sweetly told Tyler who was not crying at this point that he would need stitches. That's when all hell broke loose. Tyler does NOT do anything that has to do with stitches, not after his last traumatic expierence. He was bawling. Tyson couldn't take it anymore and couldn't even be in the same room as his sad brother so he left the room crying and we sent Emma after Tyson to comfort him.

We then decided to try and make a deal with Tyler. He had to let us shave his head and put some butterfly bandages on it so close it up ourselves and if that worked, great no stitches...if it didn't, he would be out of luck and to urgent care we would go.

Tyler was so nervous and scared he sucked his fingers while we shaved his head - he is NOT a finger sucker. We got him all shaved and bandaged up and replaced the bandaids about an hour later when the blood was soaking through. We never took him in and it is now 4 days later and it seems to be fine - although the bandaids are still on there and we aren't allowing them to get wet for a couple more days, we are treating it as if it had actual stitches in it. Just for the record, had the cut been on the front of his face or some where else where the scar would be visible, we would have taken him in and dealt with the drama but because it was on the back of his head and after his hair grows back it will cover it, we spared ourselves, Tyler and the poor doctor and nurses who would have had to deal with him...it was my Christmas gift to all :)

DATES WITH DADDY!

One day during October break, Jared did me a huge favor and took all the boys out for a day with daddy and Emma had Maddy over so I was left to my lonesome to clean the house all by myself, it makes me giddy  just thinking about it! It was a win/win for everyone I think!

Jared took the boys to go see Hotel Transylvania at the movie theatre and then they went to Peter Piper Pizza afterwards to play video games and eat lunch. They loved it! 

"more tokens please!"

Then one night during October break Chick-fil-a was having a "daddy/daughter date night" and so Jared took Emma to that! They had to reserve a table and they got served at their table...

They made crafts...

They got to ride in a limo for 10 minutes...

and the part that made me laugh/cry the most is that Emma is for sure growing up...she thought Belle was so annoying - guess she is for sure out of the Princess stage, ha ha/tear.

GRANDMA J'S PIZZA!

One night Grandma Jensen came over and made her famous pizza for us, but she didn't just make a couple of big ones, she made little pizza doughs for each kiddo to  make their own. They had a great time making their pizzas and using them as some sort of facial hair, ie mustache, goatee.  

and Tyson didn't make a face but I did find a picture of him using his middle finger which made me smile because he uses it for everything and when he goes to school I am sure all the kids will tell on him for using his "bad" finger :)

ELI TURNS 6!

Eli had kind of a bummer actual birthday, it was on a Sunday and Sunday birthdays are always kinda stinky because you can't go out and celebrate anywhere and to make it more boring, it was General Conference Sunday (Yes, we all love General Conference and love hearing from our prophets) which means when you are 6 years old you are bored out of your mind sitting in front of the tv watching conference and not going to primary and getting sung to...and to make it even worse...Emma woke up with strep throat so the little family party we had planned with grandparents and cousins coming over we had to cancel so we wouldn't get anyone sick.

After we got Emma all squared away with medicines and locked her up in her room for the day (she was really sad she missed out on being with Eli and was sad she ruined his day) we called everyone and canceled on them and then just tried to make the best of Eli's day as we could. After Eli found out Emma was sick he asked with a somber look if he'd still get to have a birthday that day :( He opened his few presents, opened his new big boy bike and went outside and rode around for a bit.

Despite the fact that Emma was sick, all the grandparents still showed up some time through out the day and made an appearance and dropped off a gift for him...I think he might have enjoyed that more actually because he would get presents randomly throughout the day!

A week later he had a little friend birthday party and got to invite 3 friends to go with him to Jambo Park and ride the little rides. After being there for a couple of hours, Jared took all the boys to Sonic and got them food and they opened presents.

We are so lucky that he is such a happy go-lucky kid because he was such a good sport about everything. We sure do love having him in our family, he brings us so much joy and he brings so much love to this family...he is such a lovey.

Eli's stats:
weight: 50 pounds - 75%
height: 45 inches - 50%

 

Bo, Jake, Eli and Logan at Jambo Park

 Eli and his cake - it did have superhero action figures on it, but he took those off earlier in the day and played with them.

 Good thing Tyler was helping him blow out that candle!

 All Eli wanted to do was not eat the cake, but stick his face in it. His friend got to do that at his party so that's all Eli wanted to do :)

 

At Sonic with his friends....

FALL FLAG FOOTBALL!

Finally the twins got to play their sport! We played Eli down on a team that was actually his age for the first time ever since we always play him up an age bracket, but this way he could be on the same team as his brothers who we thought might need him. The team had a rough start, we had a couple of losses and we are pretty sure the coach kinda wrote us off...well that will teach you to write these kids off, we came back with vengeance and ended up winning the championship!


Putting Eli down to his appropriate age bracket was phenomenal for him...it was the greatest self confidence boost ever. Instead of being the little guy on the team holding his own, he became the big guy on the team who helped carry the team all the way with the other kid Kaleb. There is something I have learned with Eli, when he puts his mind to something there is no stopping him! Every time he would want the ball thrown to him so he could make a touch down the coaches would put their trust him in him and sure enough, if he asked for the ball, he scored! That even meant scoring multiple times in a single game. It was such a joy to watch him!

Tyler, he shocked everyone! At first he just went along with the team playing it like everyone else and blending in with the crowd. About halfway through the season he decided he was going to make something of himself. He is SPEED! When he wants to turn it on, no one can catch him. So, he became the boy that would run in the extra point every touchdown. The team would pass him the ball, he would take a glance at the field, evaluate the players, find his hole and book it to the finish! The coaches couldn't get enough of him! One week Tyler was team captain and he got to go out on the field for the coin toss!

Tyson was the littlest guy on the team with the biggest heart and smile! Any time he did anything great his brothers would run out and high five him! He was a little slow this season to bring out his aggressive side with this sport, but he still made us super proud with all he accomplished by pulling a few flags and even making a touch down one game. For his first sport, we couldn't have been more proud of him!


Tyson handing off the ball to Eli...


Here is the team receiving their medals after one of the games...

Here are my boys with their trophies - the only thing they cared about getting all season :)


(After his summer flag football season they all had a football party at Freddy Sanchez' house and I made these cookies, yes, I am quite proud of them, ha ha!)

DO NOT SEPERATE TWINS!

The twins are still talking in bed together so Jared went in there and picked up Tyler and took him to the den to sleep. All hell broke loose. Tyson just cried out in sheer agony for Tyler and Tyler did the same for Tyson. 30 seconds later they were back together again just to stop the heart wrenching cries for each other. Sheesh.

(Jared will tell you he held out for a good minute, not 30 seconds!)