New York, NEW YORK

We finally got out of Rexburg! Unfortunately it meant leaving Dyson :(, however he had much more fun with his Grandma Nana (Nancy) then he would have ever had with us. We, of course, had tons of fun as well as soon as the homesick feeling for Dyson left (me). We stayed for 6 1/2 days and 6 nights in order to see all the wonders of New York and still didn't get to them all. We did see the main attractions however: Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Empire State Building, NBC studios, Time Square, Broadway and the musical Wicked, The Brooklyn Bridge, and much more...here are some pictures of our amazing trip.

Jensen Family Vaca

The Jensen Family had their annual vacation in.....drum roll please....IDAHO! I know, lame huh? Actually it wasn't lame at all; it was super fun. We stayed 4 nights over the 4th of July weekend in our friend's cabin in Driggs, ID. We went to Alta, WY to the Grand Targee Resort and Jackson white water rafting, but overall it was just fun being with my family whether it was throwing water balloons at each other, watching fireworks, playing kickball, or sitting and watching the World Cup...it was fun. We only got pictures of one part of the vacation: Jenny's Lake.

DYSON IS ONE!

I can't believe our little boy is one year old already!! Wow that year went fast! So to celebrate Dyson's 1st birthday, we had a little get together with all of Taylor's family. We rented out our clubhouse and had a party! I made him his own little baseball cake and then a normal cake and fruit pizza for everyone else. We basically just opened presents and ate, then got showered with bubbles courtesy of Paul and Karma. It was fun!

Skeet Shooting and Engagements

An unofficial but pretty customary tradition our family has is skeet shooting between Saturday sessions of conference. An unsuspecting Marla participated believing it was just another usual outing, however she would find out that it was something more. So her boyfriend was waiting for the opportune moment (or just one that would catch her by surprise) to pop the big question. It couldn't be too obvious because Marla knew he had the ring, and she was expecting it, even mentioning about how cute it would be if Ben (Marla's Man) put the ring in an egg during the Easter egg hunt or something like that. Overhearing, Ben was disappointed because Marla mentioned his first and only, at that point, idea. So, the sisters (and sister-in-law) came to the rescue thinking up ideas where he could purpose and still surprise our little sis. The one he decided on (Mine..:)..) would occur during our skeet shooting excursion.



This is Elder Jay Bach one of Lance's missionary companions, he served with Lance for 6 months total. So he joined us for the weekend along with one of Marla's roommates, Marie, and of course Marla's now fiance Ben. It was fun to have Jay Bach though because it helped (even if it wasn't a ton) to fill the void we were all feeling with Lance gone.
My Brother Randon had a bloody nose-a frequent occurrence unfortunately. He still is super handsome huh?



Here's my (awful) pictures of Ben proposing to Marla. The chain of events went as follows:

After we were finished skeet shooting we all run down the hill and start searching for whole skeet and breaking up big peices of broken skeet etc. Marla and Ben venture off together to find a special skeet planted earlier by myself. Ben didn't know exactly where to go, so I tried pointing from a distance. Finally, Marla finds the skeet with the ring box taped underneath. She excitedly pulls it off...


Ben kneels down...(I was far away and didn't get a great picture) :(


They hug...we all asume it's a YES!


It's confirmed, My little sister's getting married!! She's pretty happy. I'm excited for her.

Easter

We went to my parents house in Preston for Easter/Conference weekend. It was SO fun to be with everyone. Taylor and Dyson found their Easter basket in one of my Mom's old tax boxes. Dyson got bubbles and Taylor and I got a Nursery Manual to use for FHE and of course Easter candy! Dyson loved his bubble machine. He also loved his first Easter Egg hunt courtesy of his Nana and Grandpa-they are GOOD I mean GOOD hiders, however with some hints I was able to find the famous and enviable golden egg! Yeah! It was an intense hunt. My Mom and Dad are so amazing at setting things up and making everything fun for kids and adults alike.

Who needs a professional?

So these are some of the pictures we snapped outside our house after we took our family pictures to prove we could do better...I don't know about that. We still decided that next time we'll try to set it up ourselves (most likely using the timer though).