oh to the scrapblog.com

I am going to admit i have an obsession... I am absolutely in love with scrapblog.com. This is where i am making all the picture collages i have posted lately.. i was introduced to the program by my good friend Jill. I then with my sisters help made our wedding announcements.. It has been one of the most fun programs and i have started to make a page for each of my nieces and nephews and then on to my brothers and sisters and their spouses. Then i want to take them and make a book for the fam for all we have done this year.. It is so much fun and i am able to take pics i take with my amazing cell and touch them up and make them look little more professional.. It has been so much fun and i will for sure keep on doing this!! I hope you enjoy the collages i make. I am not the craftiest person, my sister is the one with the crafty side but, here i am able to show some of my creativity.. I have found ways to show creative ways to show pictures, personalities, and add some cute quotes.. well i hope you like them and if you have any idea please let me know.. also the site is free so feel free to get on and try it out, it is seriously so much fun!!

the official cookie of summer

I have been a little lax in my baking this summer. The oven heats up and the apartment is so warm i wonder if the goodness of cookies and the love of sharing them is worth the heat. Then i had a friend ask me if i would make him some "no bake cookies" since i borrowed his computer cord for a MONTH!! he did not complain and so i was happy to make them. I must admit i am addicted to these cookies. They can be made in 5 minutes and have less sugar and ingredients than most cookies i make. The best part is there is NO BAKING involved and so the apartment stays nice and cool. I remember making these cookies with my mom when i was little. I know now why we made them. they are so easy and so tasty!! Jared loves them and i still have plenty of people to come munch so i do not eat them all!! I have officially decided these will be my family's cookie of the summer.. When the weather cools off and i can bake with out dying of heat i will tuck the recipe away and wait till next summer to make them!!

Welcome to the family!!

Jared has been taken in by his new nieces and nephews with lots of love. Jared went from never being an uncle to having 2 nieces and 3 nephews. He was up for the challenge and loves every minute of it. Malia has found that Jared is tall enough( because all his in laws are are SHORT) and strangely has long enough arms (like i said, we are SHORT) to give her a "horsey" ride. She asks him everytime we go over there if he will be her pet horse. It is quite funny to watch Jared get down and crawl on all 4 for Malia. He makes horse sounds and everything. He gets her giggling ( and the rest of us something to laugh at) and smiling and forgets the pain of his poor knees. Trae and Parker are quite funny with Jared. They know that if they get into trouble to go to Jared. He will help them get away with whatever they are up too!! I could not find them at the family reunion awhile back (i was on the hunt to get some pictures) and i found all of them hiding under the slide huddled together with some secret plan about to unfold. I made them come out so i could get some pictures and they gave me a run for my money. I think it is impossible to get all three of them (parker, jared, and Trae) to smile in the same picture. Finally, i gave up and called a truce and went away happy with the personalities i caught on camera. Jared is so great with the kids and they love him to pieces.. My sister made the comment "jared, the more i get to know you, the more i realize you are a lot like our family". My mom and i could not figure out if that was a compliment or not:) One thing i know, i have never smiled more in my life and Jared is a great new uncle!! welcome to the Ika clan jared!! Your stuck with us!!

happy birthday MOM!!!

Have i ever mentioned how amazing my mom is? Well it was her birthday on the 8th of July.. Since i have had school and such a busy weekend i did not get a chance to get her a present.. I knew i wanted to make her something that she would want to keep and have close. I decided i wanted to put together the most recent pictures of the grandkids and i was more than happy to use the ones that i took from the family reunion. I made this online and then i put this in a frame with a mat on it and had my nieces and nephews make a hand print or sign their name on the mat.. My mom is the most amazing mom, grandma and friend. She will do anything for anyone and i love her so much!! she has been there for me through thick and thin and i hope i can be half the woman she is!! Happy Birthday mom!! I LOVE YOU!!

Birthdays, fireworks and reunions!!

It has been quite the weekend!! We started Friday night celebrating the holiday with our new ward. We had a blast playing a ward version of Bochee Ball.. We entered the tournament with a another newlywed couple in the ward and gave ourselves the team name of the "Newbies". We actually made it through the tournament to the finals. We had to play the "Oldies".. it was a great game and we ended up going to the final round tied. It was so amazing!! We were so close but, the Oldies finally beat us out and won. We were proud of second place. I hear the other team has never been beat. Later that night, the bishop approached us and asked Jared and i if we were busy saturday night, and proceeded to tell us that he needed volunteers for the STADIUM OF FIRE, we needed to usher in the dancers and we could watch the show for free. So we had a blast!!! We were able to sit with the on the lawn with the people who serve our country and enjoy the show!! So first i put pics of us at the stadium of fire. Here are a couple of details, Shedaisy sang the song "please come home soon", and i sat there and cried with many of the wives, whose husbands serve, I was so proud to be among these amazing women who give up their husbands so much time out of their lives to help keep us protected. jared had never been to the stadium of fire so it was a blast watching him getting all giddy when the show started!! The fireworks were amazing as always, and we even had a chance to hear the Jonas brothers. They were great performers!! I was amazed how much lung capacity those 8-16 year old girls have who were there and would have attacked any of the brothers i am sure!! it was hard to hear the jonas Brothers sing and we were right by the stage!! here are some of the pics from saturday!!

Before the stadium was filled, we got a pic of the stadium and the BYU!! Not long till the stadium was filled... our "credentials" and backstage passes!! we could have met the Jonas Brothers but decided against it... We did not want to fight all the 8 year olds, they were intense!!

Oh ya.. love my FLAG!! Jared excited for the show..

This flag was so HUGE!!! It was time to retire it and below was the pic of it burning as a sacred way to retire a flag.. Yes, i cried through the whole thing!!

I was so proud of our country!!

Fireworks were amazing and here is one of my fav pics i caught!!

Sunday we headed to a family reunion.. We have not had one in 15 years. It was so great to see the results of Jordan and Elma Jensen falling in love!! My mom is the youngest of 5 kids.. All of Jordan and Elma's kids were there!! Food, water fights and lots kids running everywhere was what one saw most of the night.. My Grandma and Grandpa Jensen were smiling bright from heaven that day!! They had great grandkids there full of laughs and smiles.. Stories of old and what our lives have brought to us recently!! We hope we do this reunion more often!! Thanks Uncle Nelg and aunt Laurel!! (my uncles name is Glen but i calm him Nelg).. there were some people missing that i hope to see soon!! The water fight was so fun, the adults were in on it and the little kids had a blast!! I had the chance to play with my cousin Eric's camera (which i hope to buy one like it one day!!) I will post some pics if Eric sends me some!! here are some pics of the reunion i took with my phone..

in order Left to Right: Peggy, Joyce, Grant, Glen, Wylene



My mom was not about to miss the chance to tease my dad!! in one of the pics you can see her helping Malia poor water on my dad!!

Ok the last part of our weekend was celebrating Trae's 7th birthday!! I can't believe my little Trae Man is 7, Trae is my second oldest nephew and so much fun!! he has this idea that he is a hippy/surfer!! He loves to wear his hair long and covering his eyes most of the time!! Love YOU TRAE!!! Trae has many nicknames, we love to call him "dizzle", "Trae-baby", "T-man", "trae-b" and many more!! he is a great big brother and is so much fun!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAE!!

Happy 4th of July!!

Jared and i wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!! we are going to go to a ward activity and then to watch fireworks at Thanksgiving point.. We are not going any where due to the wonderful fact that i work Friday and Saturday.. Tis life, when you need money right? We are lucky to have family close and so after fireworks we are going to spend the night at my brothers house.. Church with the family and then to a family reunion.. We are excited to have a Jensen family reunion!! there are so many people I want to see and introduce my wonderful husband!! As for school I am hanging in there.. I am done with this semester the end of July!! 3 WEEKS OFF!! so excited, we are hoping to escape for a weekend and go to st George and hopefully i can relax till i start another semester of lots of homework and emotional breakdowns i am sure!! BUT, it will all be worth it when i am done and Jared can start going full time and get applications to PA school. We are happy and content in our apartment and loving our new ward. Life is great, stressful, but great!! Have fun this weekend and i will post pictures again soon!!

Jared takes on the HULA!!

ok i know this is sideways.. i am not sure how to fix that yet.. however, yesterday i got home from school and went straight to my books. Jared i think was a little bored. I was sitting on the couch and he came out and said "look at my new talent, i have mastered the Hula!" i was laughing so hard!! he did this a couple of times and finally i was able to catch him on my phone (which is why it is sideways)... I hope he does not take up this as a profession!! He is the most loving husband and makes me laugh all the time!!