Friday, September 21, 2012

New Blog Address

I am having some problems with this blog so we have a new one....

thefourjepsens.blogspot.com

It is a private blog so if you want an invite let me know so I can add you! There won't be anymore posts to this blog, but you will still be able to access all the old posts.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

JP and Leah Come to Visit

Shad's best friend from college and his new wife, Leah came to visit us the end of August and left September 1st. Shad and I went to their wedding in Houston in May so it was fun to see them again and get to know Leah better. Brinley and Breckin LOVED them I think more than Shad and I. Brinley had a hard time when they left for three days to go up to Yellowstone.  Breckin cried when we dropped them off at the airport. JP had to put Breckin in his carseat and calm him down he was so sad.

Brinley loved Leah's sparkly flip flops and Brin was surprised to find a pair of her own that Leah bought her when we came home from dropping them off at the airport. She doesn't wear any other shoes. She also tells me how she misses Jamie (we call him JP) and Leah.








We really do miss them and loved having them stay with us. We wish we lived closer!!

Sibling LOVE

For the most part Brinley and Breckin play together really well and will hug and kiss each other out of the blue. I caught them "sharing" this bracelet and giggling the other day. Being a mom to this kids is the best "job" ever!

Here are some funnies from this past month:

Brinley: Mom, I am so frustrated and mad with you!
Me: Why?
Brinley: Because I told you three times not to turn the page and you did!
Me: I am sorry, I was scared of what was on the page (we were looking at the Oriental Trading Halloween magazine and she tore the page as I turned it).
Brinley: No you weren't, Ah I'm so mad at you. (She was right I was only turning the page so she woouldn't get scared of what was on that page)
Me: Chuckling under my breath trying to take her seriously.

-Breckin was loading his play airplane with Brinley's princesses. As he is pushing the plane the dolls fall off. He gives me a shocked look and says, OOOOOOOH!!! He couldn't believe they fell off :)

Brinley: Mom, are we there yet? (This was a crackup because she had regressed so much she would have never talked like that before or even know what was going on, so this made my day)
Me: Not yet, but we are close.
Brinley: Ah, it is taking so long...

Me: Brin do you know another name we use for God?
Brinley: Heavenly Father
Me: Wow good job Brin. Do you know he loves you?
Brinley: Yes and I love Jesus

-Breckin was laughing so hard the other day when Shad was wrestling me. He thought it was so funny he since attacks Shad anytime his dadda is laying on the ground. He does the whole stance and everything!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Car Show

Shad bought his Grandpa's old 1970 Ford truck on September 17th 2006 (Shad's birthday). After three different paint jobs, a lot of time, stress and money the truck was finally finished last month. During the whole drawn out process Shad promised his Grandpa once the truck was done he would bring it up to the Franklin County Car Show. The car show happened to be the same weekend as our anniversary so we packed up the kids and spent the night in Logan.

Grandpa Lafe was so excited to see his old truck new again. He bought it brand new in 1970 and it was  originally a green color. Grandpa painted it two tone. The top of the cab was dark brown and the rest of the truck was cream. To stick with the two tone that grandpa chose we did the inside in dark brown and cream. We let Grandpa take the truck down to what he calls the "coffee shop" (the gas station where the boys get together and drink soda) to show off the new truck before they took it to the car show. Shad and his grandpa spent all day at the car show together. Grandpa Lafe was proud to tell and show off the truck. We couldn't believe he made it through the whole day out in the heat. I took the kids over to look around for a minute and then I took them up to Aunt Helens in Downey for the afternoon. Much better than chasing them around the car show all afternoon. Especially Breckin, he is all about cars! Shad had bought a bunch of raffle tickets and I think he won all the prizes they had :) He has the best luck. I could have bought the amount of tickets he did and not won a single thing! At the end of the car show Shad didn't expect to win any of the awards. He ended up winning one of the top awards, pretty neat!!! From what he says, he enjoyed the pride on his grandpas face and spending the day with him more than any award.

Grandpa's Old Truck

Shad and Breckin being judges at the car show :)

 The all around winner in Brinley's eyes....the pink caddy!


 Breckin was terrified of the horse at Aunt Helens he held onto this brush and my leg for his life
 Ready to walk the horse around, Brin was too scared to ride her

 Up at the new fountain/pond at the "Pratt Place"


 Brinley wanted to get in and swim at the pond

 With Aunt Helen at the Pratt Place

Cute girl at the car show
 Four generation picture with the truck as the backdrop




 Where Breckin's teeth cut Shad's head open the night before

 Some of Shad's winnings from the raffle, a big HUGE box of produce

 The award they won

 Yummy pickled cucumbers and onions and pickled beets from the produce box Shad won


Monday, September 3, 2012

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!

Shad and I have hit the 5 year mark on August 17th, here is to many more years together!!! It seems like we have been married for much longer and have know each other for more than 7 years. Maybe it has something to do with us knowing each other before we came to earth :) We have had our challenges and growing pains, but the last five years have been the best years of our lives and  we have two of the most amazing children to top it off!

















 The kids had a hard time having their pictures taken the whole time we were there....
 Except for when we flew like an airplane.....




































The weekend of our anniversary we promised Shad's grandpa we would bring up his old 1970 Ford we restored and put it in the Franklin County Car Show (more to come in a separate post).  The day of our anniversary Shad came home early, brought me five roses representing each year of our marriage and a HUGE teddy bear. Brin and Breckin can barley carry him around :) On our way up to Preston we stopped at the Hill Airforce Base Museum. We highly recommend it if you have never been. The kids loved all of the planes and Shad even let the kids pick out a toy airplane from the gift shop to take home. Shad and I really enjoyed all of the history and the reverence of the place. There was so much to see and take in. My two favorite planes were the stealth fighter that was enormous and a plane that had the name Audrey on it.  I even ran into my old visiting teaching partner from my old ward while we were there. After the museum we went up to his Grandparents to drop off the truck and go eat. His grandpa was so happy to see his old truck restored and be able to drive it around. That night we went to dinner at the Firehouse pizzeria and swimming at the hotel. Dinner was delicious and we eat there almost every time we are in Logan. The skookie for dessert is the best part! It is a cookie baked on a cast iron skillet and then topped with ice cream and caramel mmmmm. When we got back to hotel we started to get ready to go swimming. Shad and Breckin were restling on the bed when we heard a weird noise. Shad and Breckin both starting crying...okay just Breckin was crying. He had somehow cut Shad's head open with his teeth. Shad's head had a big gash in it that was bleeding. Luckily, he didn't have to have stitches and we could still go swimming. His head was really sore and got a little bit of an infection the next few days. All in all it was a really enjoyable day. I am so glad that through two years of dating we made the choice to get married, it has been the best decision we have ever made!!! We look forward to many more years together and are grateful to be sealed as an eternal family.