Guns & Motorcycles

On Thursday, December 29th, Brent, Perry, Mitchell, Grant & I headed out to Sycamore Creek to ride motorcycles and shoot guns. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. Our first item of business was to get Perry riding the 80. The most difficult part of riding this bike is starting it and then get going. It's easy to stall when you take off.

Perry did great riding the bike. She didn't crash!

Our next order of business was to have Grant ride the 80 and shift into 2nd gear. He does just fine in 1st gear but it's tricky to shift to 2nd. Mitchell took him out to ride to the summit. This was Grant's first experience going up and down hills. He didn't crash so we will call it a success!

Mitchell loves to go out riding. Brent and Mitchell took off and rode out to Sycamore Creek and were able to play in the stream for a short amount of time.

Here is a short video of all of our bikers!

In between rides in the desert, we took turns shooting my new 22 pistol. It's louder than I thought it would be. The boys and Perry also shot the BB guns and 22 rifle.

Perry and I had enough fun in the desert to last us a while. However, the boys are anxious to go back and play some more.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning at the Jensen's.

Brent & I after church.

Grant and his best friend, Max.

Mitchell & Perry.

Max was the first one to open gifts from his stocking. He loved all of his treats. He immediately took one of the Oinkies, ran to the couch and chewed on it.

Last June I purchased this desk & cabinet at a yard sale in Flagstaff with Sarah & Jacque for $30. It need some repair work done in order to put it together. I asked Brent to finish it for me for Christmas. Here it is! I love it!

Grant asked for the "clapper" for Christmas. He doesn't want to get up and turn off his bedroom light. He is so funny :0

Brent was eyeing Michael's impact drill the last time we were in Kingman. Now he has one of his own and is very happy! Perry received a pink BB gun from Mitchell. She is dangerous now!

Mitchell & Grant both received lots of pellets for their airsoft guns...

hidden inside the pellets were little air soft guns...

and they also received BIG air soft guns. Later that day, Grant, Mitchell & Perry were running through the neighborhood shooting at each other. I wasn't invited to play with them because I received a REAL gun. Brent gave me a 22 pistol. (I think that is what it is. I don't know anything about guns.) You should be afraid of me now! :)

Mitchell saved a special gift for last. Perry wanted to open it the entire morning, but Mitchell made her wait. She hates waiting. However, she was thrilled with the heart shaped pendant necklace that was inside.

Mitchell's last gift from Brent was a helmet camera. Now Mitchell can record what he sees as he rides dirt bikes in the desert. I'm sure he will get some intense footage!

After we unwrapped presents, we got ready for family to come over for Christmas dinner. It was a wonderful Christmas day!

Mitchell & Perry's Wedding

On Friday, November 11th, Mitchell & Perry were married.It was a lovely ceremony. They both were beaming!Madison & Andrew were the flower girl & ring bearer. They did a super job!Our new family photo.Perry's honorary "moms."Perry's bridesmaids were Nicole S. & Nicole T.Mitchell's friends: Justin, Chad & Devon.The cake was made by Dominique. Very pretty and yummy. Mitchell & Perry were very civil as they cut the cake and served each other.

The first dance.

It was a fun evening celebrating their love for each other. I hope they remember every moment of it!

School Pictures...

Here are this year's school pictures... Grant is a freshman at Corona del Sol High School. High school is a good fit for him. He is really enjoying all of his classes; especially, his math class. He finally has a fantastic math teacher who has a sense of humor! His Algebra 3-4 class had an airplane flying contest. There were very specific rules on the construction of the plane. Grant not only won in his class but then he won out of all of his teacher's classes. He came home with a trophy! It's going to be a great year for him!

Here is my school picture :) I'm still teaching 8th grade math at Aprende Middle School. I have two sections of pre-algebra, one section of algebra, one section of geometry and one math remediation class. I have an INCREDIBLE group of students this year. I love this group!!!

Lastly, this is the first year that we don't have a school picture of Mitchell. Now that he has graduated from high school he doesn't have to sit through these painful school photo shoots. Lucky!

Perry's Birthday!

On October 20th we celebrated Perry's 18th birthday by going out to dinner at Chili's. We had a super yummy meal that started out with queso and chips. Grant loves Perry almost as much as Mitchell. Perry has her hands full with these crazy boys!

Mitchell arranged a special surprise for Perry. She hates surprises and to be the center of attention. Everyone else enjoyed hearing the Chili restaurant workers sing Happy Birthday to her and give her this luscious lava cake. Mitchell and Grant helped her devour it.

Perry requested a special birthday present from me. She wanted a dolphin cake. So later that week, the two of us made the cake. Perry did all of the decorating. I was responsible for putting the dolphin together. We think it turned out pretty realistic, plus, it was YUMMY!

Mesa Sprint Triathalon!

For the last 16 weeks I have been training for the Mesa Sprint Triathlon. The race includes a 400 yard swim, an 11 mile bike ride and a 5k run. Although I had spent quite a bit of time training for the event, I still had a case of anxiety on Saturday morning when I arrived at the event.
Brent and I arrived at ASU Polytechnic Campus around 6:15am on Saturday, October 15th. The weather was a little bit breezy and somewhat cool. I took my bike to the "transition area" and got my gear set for when I got out of the pool. I have a timer bracelet on my left ankle, both of my arms have the #129 written on them (my bib #) and my left leg had my age written on the back of my calf. It was easy to tell how old everyone was in the competition. Despite the slightly chilly weather and the very wet grass, I was ready for the swimming event. Everyone lined up around the pool according to their swim speed. Since this was the first time I had ever done this, I lined up in the 10 minute section. The time for my race starts when I jump into the water. Once in the water, I had to swim up and down each lane for a total of 16 lanes or 400 yards. If I needed to pass someone, I could only pass them at the wall. Unfortunately, I needed to pass several people, but I had to wait until I got to the wall to do it. This slowed me down significantly. My swim time ended up being 10 minutes and 35 seconds.

Once I climbed out of the pool, I ran to the transition area to get my bike. I slipped into some shorts, put on my helmet, socks, shoes, and camel pack. We weren't allowed to listen to headphones on the bike ride or at any time during the race. Bummer! After gearing up, I grabbed my bike and ran it to the street where we were allowed to get on our bikes and start the 11 mile bike race.

This ended up being my strongest event. I was quickly able to get into a zone and just pedal. There was a slight uphill part of the ride where I had to use lower gears but the rest of the time, I maxed out the gears on my little bike. While I was biking, I would focus on a rider that was ahead of me with the intent of passing them. It was great to gain on them and then pass them. It kept me motivated. I finished the 11 miles in 43 minutes and 14 seconds (this includes the time of running from the pool to my bike and from my bike to start the 5k).

The hardest part of the race was jumping off of my bike and running it back to the transition area. My legs were like jello! They didn't feel like my legs. After taking my helmet off, I had to readjust my ponytail.

Next, I had to pin my bib onto the front of my shirt. I took a swig of Gatorade and started to jog to the 5k course. My legs still felt weird.

The running course was partially on pavement and partially on a desert trail which was rather rocky. There was no water on the course until about the 3 mile mark. That was very discouraging. I needed some water. I could feel the sun on my face, I felt hot, I felt somewhat nauseous and I wanted some water. Needless to say, this is where I could have used some positive encouragement to keep going. I did the 5k in a respectable amount of time 30 minutes and 31 seconds.

Here I am running toward the finish line.

And here I am passing the finish line.

Brent, Grant, Mitchell and Perry were all at the race to cheer for me. I didn't know when Mitchell, Perry and Grant got to the event. I heard them cheering for me when I climbed out of the pool. It made me smile to know they were there; especially, since it was early on a Saturday morning.

Once I consumed a large bottle of Gatorade after my run, I felt better. I actually felt pretty good that I had finished the race despite my anxiety that morning. I ended up placing 27th out of all of the women (there were 84 women in the race and a total of 250 participants) and I placed 5th for my age group. I have a print out of everyones times for the race. Now I know what a "normal" time is for an event like this. This will help me focus my training as I prepare for another sprint triathlon. I don't have an exact event lined up yet, but I'm pretty sure I want to do this again.

Mitchell is 18!

On Sunday, August 28th at 8:07am, Mitchell turned 18! He finally made it this momentous occasion. That evening we had a family party. Mitchell chose to have stroganoff and asparagus for dinner and a lemon glazed angel food cake for dessert.

Since we didn't have 18 candles and because it is hard to put candles into angel food cake, Mitchell had 6 candles. But if you multiply that by 3 it equals 18. :) Mitchell blew them all out quickly.

A big hug from his proud mama!
Tonight we took Mitchell out to Famous Dave's Bar-b-Que for ribs. His girlfriend, Perry, joined us for the extra yummy dinner. Mitchell saw another couple celebrating a birthday and they had this flaring candle and ice cream. He quickly grabbed our waitress and told her he just turned 18 yesterday and can he have the candle and ice cream too. He sure isn't shy! Needless to say, he got exactly what he asked for!