Jensen Update!!

 Time for another update! 

September 30: Tonight was the National Honor Society induction ceremony for Jaiden and Janelle. They were asked to sing the National Anthem as a duet. They sounded great! You can listen to their rendition here: https://youtu.be/6XskZJbr-cw

October 2: Josh ran the Cedar Invite Cross Country meet in Cedar City. Meanwhile Jenna had her birthday party. She planned and executed it all by herself. She made the invitations, the birthday cakes, and planned all of the activities. It turned out really well! You can read more about her birthday party: https://wendyjensen.blogspot.com/2020/10/jennas-birthday-party.html 

October 3: Happy Birthday, Jenna! It was a busy day with General Conference and Soccer games! Jaiden and I went to Josh's first game. We were a few minutes late and missed his first goal, but I did a video of some of his fancy footwork and nice goal assist. You can watch that here: https://youtu.be/Jt-Rb7S5oEM 

Jaiden and Janelle had to work Saturday night and so Jenna and I watched the General Women's meeting without them. Janelle invited a bunch of friends to come over and watch it at our house on Sunday night. 

October 9: Janelle and I quarantined for the past week since we both had possible (albeit remote) exposure to Covid. We both tested negative and were able to get back to our busy schedule!! 

Janika and Brandon came down for the weekend since he had the next Monday (Columbus Day) off at the bank. They arrived Friday night and headed home Monday afternoon. So we got a longer visit than we usually do when they come down!   

October 10: I was playing chauffeur to Josh all day long. He had his region Cross Country meet in Cedar City and so I drove up to Cedar and watched his race and then brought him straight to his soccer game in St. George. Josh did well in the race. After he recovered for a bit we hustled back to St. George (with him changing clothes in the car) to make it back in time for his soccer game. One more race and Josh will be finished with Cross Country. Hooray! I think it has been good for him, but it is also a TON of time!! 

Janika and Brandon and Janelle met me at his game halfway through. (They had taken Janelle birthday shopping). Josh was bummed that they saw the second half of the game instead of the first half since he had scored and played better during the first half. I am surprised that he could play very well at all having just rushed from a 3 mile Cross Country race! Josh was especially bummed that his team tied. This is the first game that they have not won (but at least they didn't lose, right?) Right after the game I drove Josh straight to his first referring assignment. I had to basically hang around in order to take him to his next assignment an hour later. Then I waited around again so that I could take him home.  

After we came home he grabbed something to eat and then headed to his 05 game (he plays on two teams). Meanwhile Janika and Brandon (and Rick) brought Jenna to get her ears pierced. (12 is the magic age where we allowed our girls to get their ears pierced). That night Janika, Jenna, and I watched a cheesy, but cute, Hallmark type movie called "After the Ball." 

Sunday 11: Brandon's parents happened to be in town also with Brandon's uncles since one of them was buying a condo down here. Since they were in town we invited them over for lunch. So it was fun to visit with them for a while. 

Monday 12: Janika and Brandon weren't leaving until 2:30 and so I had gotten a sub for work today so that we could visit a little more before they left. Everyone was back to school and work today and so Janika and Brandon would have been hanging out here by themselves. Janika and I went and walked around the cactus gardens. It was really nice. There were volunteers putting up loads of Halloween decorations and so we got to see some of the fun exhibits that will be on display later this week. 

There was a short Madrigal concert in the park tonight with families social distancing. They have a new director this year (the choir teacher from the Middle School moved up) since their much loved former director retired last year. Everyone loved their former director and it has been an adjustment changing directors with very different working styles. They don't have their dresses yet and so they were just asked to wear fall colors. It was fun hearing them sing! Jaiden sang a little solo in this song. (:57). She was disappointed that her voice cracked, but I think she sounded great! You can listen to it here: https://youtu.be/TLj4lx3Nu8k 

Janika and Brandon headed back to Logan bringing Jared with them. They thought it would be fun for Jared to come stay with them for the week and then he could come back with Rick since Rick will be in Logan on Saturday for his interpreter test. With Fall Break on Thursday and Friday and Jared working from home and doing school from home every other day, it worked out fine for him to go. He was really glad that he went and said that it was an absolute blast! He met up with friends from his mission who were going to school up there and knew other kids who were attending USU and so it sounds like it was a big party! He really appreciated Janika's cooking while he was there too. The only drawback is that he messed up his knee -- AGAIN -- playing basketball (again). He was finally recovered from the last incident only to have it happen again! So he is quite disgruntled about that! 

Jared found another job -- at Dutch Bros -- near our home. His friend works there and loves it. They don't make much as far as base pay, but his friend said that they make great tips and so it ends up being a lot more. So he is going to put in his two weeks notice with Caption Call. He has worked there around five months. He hasn't minded it, but will enjoy the social aspects of this one more. 

So far Jaiden really likes working at Tuacahn! It is mostly Friday and Saturday nights -- sometimes Saturday mornings. The week of Halloween will be every night (except Sunday) because of the Thriller performances. She works in concessions -- with her best friend, Emily, and so they can carpool. They work with a lot of other teenagers, which is fun, and they get the benefits of hearing some of the concerts (from the plaza) during their job. They have come home from work with churros, bags of popcorn, and candy (leftover stuff that was just going to be thrown away.) Nice to get free snacks -- and sometimes they even get a few dollars in tips. 

And what do they do when they arrive early and Broadway music is blasting over the loud speakers? Click here to find out!! https://youtu.be/A2Xx3bd-lc0 

We celebrated Janelle's 18th birthday. Here is our birthday song fail!! https://youtu.be/ejbS_VM6v04   She really has great friends. One of her friends (with the help of her mom) had pizza brought in to the Seminary building as a surprise lunch for Janelle and their friends. Her friends decorated her car and gave her little gifts. The speech therapists that she works with for her internship at Vista got her a nice little gift too. That was thoughtful! Her Young Women's leader brought her a balloon and gift bag with scrunchies. She and her friend went to the pet store so that Janelle could buy a fish -- since apparently you have to be 18 to buy one. Welcome to the family, Desmond! 

We didn't do much for Fall Break. Rick and Jared were both in Logan and the kids hung out with friends much of the time. It was actually quiet around here! I brought Josh in to open up a student checking account at the credit union so that he can get direct deposit for his referee job. So now he has his own debit card. When the kids open up a student checking account they get all sorts of "goodies" and if they make ten transactions within 30 days with their new debit card then the credit union puts $75.00 into their account. It is a pretty sweet deal! Jase likes it too because he gets a nice referral bonus. I brought Josh to some stores for some early Christmas shopping and also brought Jenna and Jaiden in to get their flu shots since Janelle and Josh already had theirs. The girls ended up taking extra shifts at their jobs. 

Rick and Jared returned Saturday night. Rick said that his test was terrible and he is sure that he failed. So that is too bad, especially after taking this preparation class and practicing for many weeks for it. (At least the class and test and everything was paid for through a grant or something). He doesn't "need" this certification in order to work in Utah (we are both Utah certified) but this is for a National Certification which would allow him to interpret anywhere in the nation (some states actually pay big bucks to fly interpreters in from other states to interpret for conventions -- they cover the cost of travel and housing and everything). Also, with this certification he could interpret on cruise ships for Deaf cruises, which he thinks would be really fun. Anyway, when he got home he called his mentor and explained to her that there were some technical problems in the test (the sound actually went out for a little bit, which not only caused him to miss some of what was being said, it also flustered him for the rest of the test). She strongly encouraged him to appeal the test based on the technical problems and request a re-take. So he filled out the paperwork for an appeal but hasn't heard back as to whether or not they have accepted his appeal or not. 

Jase and Ellen just got back Sunday night from a trip to Jacksonville Florida where Ellen served her mission. They came over to tell us about it and to show us their pictures. Ellen had finished her quarantine barely in time for their trip (Jase had already been cleared to go back to work and school). They stayed with friends from her mission and had a great time! Jase is playing in a three day laser tag tournament here in St. George Monday-Wednesday. He takes school very seriously and so I was surprised that he would actually take three days off of school and work for a laser tag tournament -- actually I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he is a little obsessed.

I have pictures of all of these events, but I will have to add them later! Have a great week everyone! 

Wendy