Catching up

This might be an overload of pictures, but it's been a while since I've really posted. Just bear with me. While we were eating lunch yesterday, Aaron started to dance. It was cracking me up so I had to grab our camera. I can't figure out how to hook up our camera to the computer though, so you just get pictures. Don't you just love the scrunched nose in the above picture?
He was having a lot of fun.

I love this little guy. He is always so happy. I need to learn from him. Last night our ward had a Christmas Party "A Night in Bethlehem." They did an awesome job transforming our gym into Bethlehem. It was a lot of fun going from "shop" to "shop" to "buy" our food. Kaden absolutely loved it. We had to dress like we were from that time too, so here are some pictures of the boys from when we were getting ready.

Pretty stylin'

He is such a cheeseball. Thanks for smiling...

I don't think his bathrobe fits very well anymore...

He just makes me happy.

Kaden was so mad I took off his coat so I could get a picture.

It was really neat to see the night of the Savior's birth reenacted. Kaden really enjoyed it and has been asking for Christmas music all day today. My Mom got some pictures of all three of us (Brad didn't go because he has 2 more finals today that he needed to study for). For some reason her camera won't hook up to my computer. I don't know what's going on. But I'll get it figured out and post a couple more pictures because they turned out so cute.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. It would have been better if Doug and Amanda could have made it up. We missed you guys. Arizona is so far away sometimes... But we understand and love you all. Kaden still talks about how he hit the pinata, yes we had pinatas this year. I'm not quite sure why, but all the kids loved them and that is all that matters. My favorite part of the day was when everyone had finished decorating their gingerbread houses. I was taking some pictures of the kids with their houses and Brad called for my attention. He pointed and I turned to look, over by the tables for the gingerbread houses was my nephew, Trevin, stuffing his house full of candy. I caught him on tape, and even got a few pictures, which I will have to post another time. Aaron just woke up from his nap... So more later.

Brothers

I went shopping with my mother yesterday. She had some errands to run, and I decided me and my kids needed to get out of the house. We ended up at Costco and I just love the shopping carts they have there. Kaden and Aaron were sitting side by side. I wish I could've gotten a picture of it, they were so cute. Aaron thought he was so big sitting there. He kept kicking his legs and looking around. Anyway, they always have samples so we got a candy on a toothpick for Kaden, and my Mom was getting one for me and her. We both had our backs turned on the boys when all of a sudden we hear crying. I turn around to find Kaden candyless, so I was looking on the ground to see where he dropped it. Mom and I couldn't find it anywhere on the floor, so I looked back up to see if it was on Kaden's lap or something. Lo and behold, there was a toothpick sticking out of Aaron's mouth. How does that saying go, "Like taking candy from a baby," I think it needs to be changed. Isn't brotherly love just wonderful? I had to take the candy away from Aaron because it had nuts in it. Kaden didn't want it back because it was all slimy, so he got a brownie instead. He guarded that thing like a mother hen guarding her chickens. It gave my stomach muscles a good workout though!

Moan and Groan and a tag...

My sweet sister-in-law tagged me. So, here is the 3rd picture in my 6th folder. This is Kaden; I'm hiding behind him. I had just gotten home from the hospital after having Aaron, so Kaden was having fun climbing on me, since he hadn't seen much of me for a few days. Now, of course, Aaron is crawling like a crazy baby. He pulls himself up on everything, and he eats like there won't be any food left tomorrow. Then again, at the rate he eats maybe there won't be any food left... That, obviously, was a joke. After all we're living with my parents again. If anyone goes hungry in this house, it's their own fault.

It's been awhile since I posted because we have been so insanely busy. We had to be out of our house by Nov. 1, so that the new renters could move in. I'm still amazed at how much junk we have. We're are now living in my parents' house, in the basement. Two bedrooms. It's not too bad. We're just glad to have a place to live right now, and we're hoping it won't be for long. Brad started a new job last week. He's working for GammaWest Brachytherapy. Basically he helps out with radiation therapy for cancer patients. I'll leave out all the graphic parts of his job, let's just say they mostly treat prostate cancer. It's been good for him, and we need the money. It's tough though because he is NEVER home. He'll leave anywhere between 6 and 8:30 in the morning. On the nights he has class, we don't see him again until 7:30 pm, and on Wed. nights he has Elder's Quorum presidency meetings at 7:30. Then, when he has clinicals, I don't see him until 11 pm. It makes for some really long days with the boys, and trying to get everything else done.

Anyway, all is well. Last week I borrowed my sister's car to go to the pharmacy (I forgot to mention that while Brad is gone, I have no mode of transportation.). We got to Kohler's and they couldn't fill our prescriptions because Brad and I had both ran out of refills, go figure. So, I had to bribe Kaden to leave the store peacefully, and he chose a small package of swedish fish. On the way home I hear him say, "NO NEMO!" with a very stern voice. Next, "I'm sorry, daddy" with a sweet passive voice. I thought I was going to die laughing. He is so much like his father...

I almost forgot, I tag Kassi and Jessica. Post your 3rd picture from your 6th folder. Have a wonderful day!

I've been tagged...

Thanks Jessica, for tagging me... This will probably be pretty boring to read, but here ya go:

Quick 5 and List of 8

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Going to school, good ol' Mtn. Ridge. I would have just started 8th grade, one of my favorite years. Of course, I enjoyed every year of school. That was the year I really started to love science... Mr. Whittaker's class was awesome.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?

1. I definitely need to shower. 2. There's a whole lot of laundry waiting for me, too. 3. Give Kaden some one-on-one time. He does so much better if he gets some personal attention from me, no brother allowed. 4. Cook--lunch and dinner. 5. Give the kids a bath tonight before bed. Sorry, I'm scrambling for things here; we're just enjoying another day at home.

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Now we're talking. I love food. Especially snacks! Chocolate, cookies, ice cream, swedish fish, cinnamon bears (or Santa's or even Devils at Halloween time), chocolate covered cinnamon bears, I could keep going but I think you get the picture. Of course, I enjoy healthy things every once in awhile too. Nothing hits the spot like a nice juicy apple (adding caramel doesn't hurt though).

4. Places I've lived:

Utah and Idaho

5. Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire:

1. Pay off all our debt. 2. Buy a reasonably sized house (I'm not big on having to clean a lot...) 3. Help out our families with their debt and housing situations... 4. Go on lots of missions! 5. Make sure my children are taken care of.

A List of 8:

8 TV shows I love to watch:

Well, considering we don't have any t.v., this is a little bit harder. 1. Smallville 2. The Office 3. Brad and I just started watching Heroes (we borrowed the first season from his brother.) 4. CSI is interesting, sometimes, when it's not too dark. 5. KSL news 6. The Today Show (at least I used to like it, I haven't seen it for a long time). 7. Brad got me interested in JAG. I can't think of another show...

8 favorite places I love to eat:

1. Olive Garden 2. Winger's 3. IHOP 4. Texas Steakhouse (their rolls are so delicious!) 5. Panda Express 6. Arby's 7. Wendy's 8. Papa John's (I know, I'm really stretching here.)

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. I went grocery shopping. 2. Aaron had yet another blow-out with his diaper. 3. Kaden absolutely refused to take a nap. 4. I watched Sydney, my niece. 5. I got to work on my Transcription stuff for awhile. 6. I had to clean my house so someone could walk through (My brother's trying to sell the house). 7. I made taco salad for dinner. 8. I put Kaden to bed at 7:30 because he didn't take a nap, and I couldn't handle him anymore! Just another day at the Jensen's, thrilling isn't it?

8 things I look forward to:

1. Thanksgiving 2. Moving into a place of our own (that's in the distant future...) 3. Christmas 4. Kaden turning 3 and Aaron turning 1, crazy how time flies! 5. Brad finishing his x-ray tech program so he can have a job doing something he loves! 6. Finishing my Medical Transcription program so that I can get a job, and we can have some "extra" income. Not really extra because Brad can't work all that much and we're living off of student loans right now. 7. Family scripture study and family prayer tonight. Kaden is so cute, and picks up on things so fast. Each night brings a new adventure. 8. Springtime.

8 things on my wish list:

1. Buying a house. 2. No more money challenges. 3. That I could truly relax and just enjoy my children. 4. That I wouldn't have to spend so much time cleaning this huge house. 5. That I could be done with the Medical Transcription program. 6. Longer days so I could get more done. 7. Creativity so that my kids' scrapbooks would be super cute... Of course, I'd settle for just having their scrapbooks updated. 8. I wouldn't have to worry or stress anymore. Then again, the trials make us appreciate the good times even more...

8 people I tag:

I don't think there are even 8 people that read this blog... 1. Shelley 2. Kassi 3. Katie 4. Jonie 5. Staci 6. Miranda 7. Amanda 8. Kayley

There you go. Hopefully it wasn't too painful.

Adjusting

Be prepared for a bit of a shock. Just a warning. Before that though, here are some pictures I found that I thought I would share. Aaron was supposed to be taking a nap. I was working at the computer; I turned around to look at him and that is what I saw.
He loves his jumper, but apparently he was pretty tired.
This is him trying to crawl. He's been getting up on his knees for a month now. Now he'll get up and rock back and forth, then lunge forward. He gets around pretty well that way. I don't dare leave him alone a room anymore because he gets around so much. And here comes the shocker. Sorry, I couldn't get the picture turned. This is before:
And this is after:
I got over six inches cut off. My hair almost looks black in front now, though I'm not sure why. Even my own mother had to ask if I dyed my hair. I really didn't get any color added, I just got it cut. It's a bit of an adjustment, but so far I think I like it.

Finally...

So I started to write this post and it started to sound like a journal entry. I'm trying again, and hopefully it won't have that same feel. I just wanted to let everyone know that I applied for graduation on Friday. I'm just getting my associate's degree right now. But at least I won't have to take generals again if I ever decide to go back and get my bachelor's. Our family is doing quite well. Aaron is super close to crawling. I'm not so sure I'm ready to have to completely mobile children, but I guess there's no turning back now, huh. No, seriously I'm excited for all that lies ahead. I'm just not sure my sanity can keep up. Brad still loves the x-ray tech program, which is great news! He's just eating it up, it's so great to see him so excited to learn. Kaden is growing and testing my patience everyday. He is so much fun, I just don't know where he gets all that energy from. I wish I could keep up with him. Tomorrow we're going to be doing some Halloween crafts because our house is in desperate need of some decorations. I stole the ideas from Jessica's blog, hope you don't mind. They're super cute though. Anyway, if they turn out, I'll post some pictures.

Too Much

Whenever Brad leaves to go to class or his clinicals, he gives Kaden a hug and a kiss and tells him that he loves him. Kaden answers, "I love you too." The other day Brad was walking with Kaden to the mailbox and he told Kaden, "I love you so much." Kaden's reply was priceless, "I love you too much." Now whenever Brad is leaving he has to tell Kaden "I love you so much," just so he can hear, "I love you too much!"

Fashion Statements

My son is a real fashionista. He likes to take his style to a whole new level, and make it all his own. Well, here are some examples, just to give you an idea of his creativity.

Ya know, Cars is a big hit with kids his age. He just takes it to a whole new level.
Now, I have to point out that only his upper body is in the picture on purpose. The underwear that you see on his head, just a few minutes prior to this picture was on his bottom. That's what I get for leaving him alone for a minute or two.
Stylish or not, he's still got a good smile!
He was painting so I took his shirt off.
My own little Steve Erkell (how do you spell that?). Well, that's it for our fashion adventures so far. But I'm sure there will be more in the coming days.

Just an update, Brad has switched to night classes. It's a blessing because he is now able to work a little, and his clinicals are a Timpanogos Regional Hospital. It's much closer so when the weather gets bad he won't have to deal with driving nearly to Salt Lake every day. He has enjoyed this hospital, though he also misses St. Mark's. He has loved his program so far, and has even taken several x-rays on his own. I am nearly to my midterm with the medical transcription schooling. Hopefully by the middle of next week I'll be able to take it. Kaden has been doing better with the whole potty training, and has even had a couple of days without any accidents. We're still working on it, but it sure is nice to only have to change one child's diapers instead of two. Aaron is doing great. He absolutely loves solid foods. He eats solids three times a day, and so far he's tried rice cereal, pears, and peaches. Bananas are next on the list. He is so funny to watch eat. To help himself swallow, he'll suck on his thumb. So, you put food in his mouth, he'll suck on his thumb for a few seconds, then he pulls out his thumb so you can put more food in. He keeps us laughing, and if it weren't for his precious smiles I would have lost my sanity long ago. Yes, I know you're thinking it's way too late for that...

Bubble Bath

We just put Kaden in the tub for his bath. Usually, he loves his bathtime, but it has to be in "Daddy's tub." So, Brad fills up the tub, puts some bubble bath in, and turns on the jets. The jets accomplish two things: more bubbles and larger bubbles. Our bedroom is right next to the bathroom, so I went to put some things away and Brad was talking to Kaden. He kept telling us he was doing good. No big deal. I decided to go in there and just check on him, make sure he's okay and having fun. Here's what I found...




It cracked me up. I'm glad I went in when I did or we would have had bubbles everywhere... No wonder he loves bathtime! Anyway, we are all doing well. Aaron had his four month check-up a week and a half ago. He weighed in at 14 lbs 3 oz. He's 24 3/4 inches tall. All in all he's doing great, though he's getting super demanding. He thinks he needs constant attention, which is very hard to do. We started him on rice cereal, and for the most part he enjoys it. We've started really working on Kaden using the toilet. He's picked up on it pretty quick, though he still has one or two accidents a day. But, it hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated. We're just home bound most of the time because I don't want to deal with an accident in public yet. I have some cute pictures of Aaron. You know the classic look on a baby's face when they are being introduced to solids. The "what on earth are you doing to me?" look. I'll have to post them later though because for some reason they won't upload right now.

Yup

Here are a few pictures from camping at Willow Flats. Jeremy brings his hammock every year, and all of the kids love it!
Aaron, surprisingly, did really well. He slept through the night, both nights we were up there. And he was pretty good during the day.
Brad, Kaden, and Aaron on the hammock.
What a little helper! He thought the broom was the coolest thing while we were there. I don't think he managed to get the ground very clean though...
Three cousins: Ryan, Kaden, and Piper; they are all the same age. Kaden ate so many pretzels he wouldn't eat lunch.

Now, to refer to the title of this post. I noticed about a month ago that Kaden always says either, "Yup" or "Nope" whenever he's asked a yes or no question. He really emphasizes the "p" sound on each, and I pointed this out to Brad. Since then we've been wondering where on earth he picked this up. Honestly, who says "yup?" The other day I was at the grocery store and the cashier asked if I found everything alright. I responded with a resonating, "Yup." I was shocked. Kaden got this from me, and here I've been joking around about him saying. Since I realized this at the grocery store I've noticed that I always say "yup" or "nope." Who would've thought? Isn't it interesting what your children can teach you...

Happy 24th of July

Isn't this great! It's from a few days ago, but I just love how he's stroking his second chin! He loves that bumbo seat; yes I know it's purple. The joy of hand me downs.
Kaden absolutely loves stickers. I guess because these were animal stickers he figured they'd fit right in with the movie that he was watching, "Madagascar." What a funny kid; luckily they were pretty old stickers so taking them off wasn't too bad.
Aaron's diaper exploded yesterday, so I cleaned him off and put a new diaper on him. Then I went into the bathroom to clean his outfit. I left him on the blanket, on his back. When I walked back into the room this is how I found him. I'm guessing he did it on his own because Kaden denies having any part of it and Aaron's been rolling up onto his side a lot lately. I don't know if I'm ready for this yet...
Brad was having fun with the boys, and found some sunglasses in Kaden's room. Aaron loves when people talk to him; he gets so excited.
What a good little helper I have. Whenever Aaron starts crying, Kaden goes and finds his pacifier. Sometimes he'll give it to him, sometimes he hands it to me, and other times he just likes to play with it. This was one of the times he was feeling generous. All right, now I need to preface this next picture. My brother invited us to come watch some fireworks with his family last night, out in our backyard. Kaden loved watching fireworks on the fourth, so we figured we'd go out. They just had a few leftover from the fourth. Keldon lit a couple sparklers, and handed one to Kaden. I was helping him hold it since he was sitting on my lap. These sparklers are the "safer for children" ones that only burn down like an inch before they go out. Kaden's went out and he was trying to figure out why, so he grabbed onto the end. I took him over to the pool we have set up in our backyard and soaked it in there. By then it was already blistered. Brad went inside and got a bowl of ice water so we could sit down and finish watching the fireworks. When that was over we went inside and filled up the kitchen sink with cold water and let him play with some toys in it. Then he watched a movie in our bedroom last night, and just slept in our bed. There are three blisters on his index finger, and one on his middle finger.

It could've been worse. But he was pretty miserable. He wanted a Shrek bandaid because Keldon and Shelley offered one. We didn't want to cover up the blisters, so I put it on his thumb to make him feel better. What a day!

Miracles do Happen

There is so much to write about, and so little time. Mostly I just wanted to say "YAY!!!" Brad is finally going to be able to start his X-ray Technician program this fall. It was quite lucky how it all came about. I checked Brad's e-mail at 10:45pm on Monday, and there was a message there from a person at SLCC. I opened it up and read the first couple of lines. I got so stinkin' excited that I ran into our bedroom, yelled Brad's name a few times; he didn't wake up. So I went to the bed and shook him until he finally got up. He was totally incoherent, but eventually stumbled out of bed muttering something like, "Chels... what?" I just told him this was something he wanted to see, and told him to go look at the computer. We sat there together while he read the first part, and he got super excited too. Then we came to the part that said, "Please respond by July 21st at 8:00am or your spot will be given to the next person on the list." We were too late. I just cried and cried. We had been waiting so long, and just because Brad doesn't check his e-mail everyday, he had missed his chance. We were both just sick, but Brad e-mailed the person back to see if it was at all possible for him to still start. We checked his e-mail constantly the next morning, but heard nothing. In the e-mail he had received it said something about an orientation meeting on Tuesday morning at 9:00. It also said that if you couldn't be at the orientation then you couldn't be in the program that semester. Brad decided that he was just going to drive up there and find someone to talk to in person about what was going on. In the admissions office for his program, there was absolutely no one. So, Brad went to the director of the program, that was also doing the orientation meeting. He told him what was going on and the director told him that if someone didn't show up, he was in. Well, two people didn't show, so Brad got in! What a blessing! He starts classes Aug. 20, and clinicals Aug. 21. We are both very excited. It'll be interesting to see how things work out. But, at least I now know why I wasn't supposed to be going to school this fall. It would've been awfully difficult for both of us to drive our only car in opposite directions at the same time of the day, every day.

I just wanted to post this, I'll put up some pictures soon. There are a lot: the Fourth of July, camping at Willow Flats, and swimming in our "pool." Aaron's just super fussy right now because of his teeth, so hopefully in the next day or two.

I am a Child of God

Brad was putting Kaden to bed one night this week, and Kaden said, "Daddy, I wanna sing you." So Brad asked what song he wanted to sing, and Kaden answered, "Tog." That's what he calls "I am a Child of God." So, they sing it together, Brad would say the words first and Kaden would repeat them. After I finished feeding Aaron, Kaden was calling for me so I went back there. He told me, "Mommy, I wanna sing you." I sat down and he started to sing. He made it through the first line, then got all shy and hid his head. I told him I would sing with him, but every time I tried he got mad at me. So he sang to me. It was so cute. We sing that song to him every night before he goes to bed, and he's actually picked up on the words pretty well. Then last night Brad went to the store to get diapers, so I was putting Kaden to bed. I sang to him, then Aaron started crying, so I told Kaden if he wanted more songs he'd have to sing them himself so I could go feed his brother. As I started to walk down the hall I heard, "I am a child tog..." How precious, I just hope that he understands it, especially as he gets older. Here are a few pictures from this past week. Enjoy!

I was playing with Kaden on Monday, and we were having grapes for a snack. He put two in his mouth and slid them into his cheeks so he looked like a chipmunk. We had a lot of fun that day, we even played hide and go seek. That was entertaining.

Today he was playing with blocks. Notice the line of them in front of the tower he's building. It cracks me up; he always lines them up like that, usually by color.

Here's a better picture, showing his face.

This is Aaron right before church on Sunday. I thought his little outfit was cute, so I had to take a picture. It's actually from when Kaden was a baby. Don't tell Brad, this is why we were late leaving to get to church--I just had to take a picture!

Here is a classic picture of Kaden taunting his brother. He loves to try to get in the carseat with Aaron. It drives me crazy. He is a good older brother though, and loves Aaron so much!

Sleepy Kids

So, Kaden was refusing to take a nap for me. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon on Monday or Tuesday this last week, and he was throwing a tantrum because I told him he couldn't watch any more movies. So he laid down on the floor (as you can see above) and was doing his fake cry. After fifteen minutes he didn't move, and I figured he'd fallen asleep. I had to take some pictures because I thought it was pretty funny.

I moved his hand a little bit so you could kind of see his face; notice he even still has his toy in hand.

Aaron loves to suck his thumb. During the night, I'll often wake up to sucking noises instead of him actually crying.

It just makes me laugh. Kaden never sucked his thumb. Aaron used to put his whole fist in his mouth, but somehow he's figured out how to get just his thumb. It's pretty noisy, but whatever works. Brad's worried about it; he doesn't want Aaron's teeth to get messed up or whatever. I'm just glad he has his own way of calming himself down. Too bad it doesn't work all the time...

What a Weekend!

Aaron in his blessing outfit.

He is such a happy guy.

Brad and Aaron

Brad, Aaron, and Chelsee (Kaden was asleep.)

This is my favorite picture of Aaron. Just looking at it makes me smile!

This last weekend was so crazy. We had all of Brad's family come down for Aaron's baby blessing on Sunday. Saturday was Brad's birthday, Piper's birthday, and Doug was sealed to his family in the Salt Lake Temple. Sunday was Father's day, Aaron's baby blessing, and Chaden's birthday. Busy, busy, busy.



First I have to thank Doug and Amanda for letting us be apart of their special day, Saturday. It was such a great reminder to me of the importance of eternal families. I cried the entire time, and my eyes still water when I think about it. Thanks for sticking with it and getting there. I think that all the hard times you guys went through before made this experience even sweeter.



After the sealing Brad and I went with Brad's family to chuck-e-cheese's to celebrate his birthday and Piper's birthday. What a parent trap. I'm not so sure I'll ever go there again. Kaden was exhausted from going to the zoo with Brad's family, and it was pretty late. He was pretty difficult to deal with, and on top of that the music is really loud and really obnoxious. But it was the first time I had ever been there, and it was great to spend some time with Brad's family.



Sunday was another incredible day. Our ward starts at 9am, and if you're not there early, it's impossible to get a bench. Luckily all our family got there before us because we were running later than usual. I'm grateful for my wonderful husband. He spent some time that morning with Aaron, trying to get a better feel for his personality. His blessing was beautiful, it made me cry (not that that's too hard to do these days...). I love the power of the priesthood and I'm grateful for the gospel. I was especially grateful that all my brothers were able to stand in the circle... I've been waiting a long time for that. And I'm also glad Brad's brother, Mark, could be there along with all of his brothers-in-law. It was a big circle, but it was awesome!



All in all it was a busy weekend, but I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. Luckily I have a husband who is very patient with me, since he didn't get his Father's Day gift until Monday, and his birthday gift yesterday. Here are a few pictures from this past weekend... Enjoy!