Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Family & Friends,
It seems as though this holiday season comes sooner and sooner each year! We feel blessed to have so many wonderful family members and friends in our lives. We always enjoy letting you know about the changes life has offered us within the passing year and look forward to hearing of yours!
We’ve been in Pahrump for two years now; oh how time flies! We feel we were led here for so many reasons. One of which; In February, Danny was called as the Bishop in our Ward, in all honesty the call surprised us both! We have been humbled and greatly blessed for his service. I was recently called as the 2nd Counselor in the Young Women's program. We have gotten to know so many wonderful people and feel blessed to be a part of the Manse Springs Ward.
In June, Danny’s Campus Foodservice business was outbid by one of the largest food providers in the world. Therefore, he lost his community college contracts at all 3 colleges .This has been most humbling; however, we feel blessed to have much love and support from so many of you. I am grateful for Danny and for his hard work and for the wonderful husband and father he continues to be. Danny is an entrepreneur and continues to amaze me with his brilliant business ideas, one in which he is currently working on putting to action.
Another reason we feel we were led to Pahrump was the starting of my preschool. With Danny “out of work”, the preschool has been a huge blessing! Pahrump Valley Preschool has thankfully grown a lot this year, with 3 classes and currently 24 students'.
My mom is thankfully still living with us and has been a big help in my school, with the kids and with the cooking!
Some of you might have heard we were expecting baby number 6 back in July, but unfortunately after 11 weeks of pregnancy I had a miscarriage. We were grateful for the love, prayers and support from many family and friends and feel blessed with the knowledge that there is a purpose in all things. We are not yet finished bringing these wonderful choice spirits into our home. They just fill our home with so much joy and love and none of us our ready for that to end! We feel greatly blessed for our 5 children that bring joy to our life daily!
Max now attends 2nd grade and continues to GROW quickly! His size and his interests make it hard for me to treat him as though he's only 7 years old. Max has been a soldier for Halloween for 2 years now and told me he plans to be that again next year. His Christmas wish list consists of a bb gun, knives and the Wii. Max will be turning 8 in May and is looking forward to being in scouts. He has been enjoying school a lot more this year, it always helps to have friends in his class and a teacher he likes. Max's favorite school "activity" is still P.E.; which, he received student of the month in October for. With Danny being home he helps make life less stressful, which has made Max much happier and much easier to deal with, which of course is another wonderful blessing!
Hanna is attending Kindergarten and just as I suspected, loves it! She has the most perfect Kindergarten teacher which makes school all the better! Hanna received student of the month last month for her class. She has also had one of her writing papers displayed near the office that she received an award for. Hanna continues to be a wonderful big sister and a big help to us all!
Van just turned 4 years old last month and attends my preschool class. It is fun to have him in class with me (for the most part) and watch him interact with the other children. Van has become my "class clown," he only likes going to class if the kids that laugh at his silliness are there. It feels good to know that Van is starting to "pick-up" on a few of the things I've been teaching him for the past couple years, yeah!
Daisy has really gotten comfortable with being 2! Anyone that knows Daisy from church would not believe this about her, but boy can this little "sweetie" scream! Everyone loves Daisy, she loves being held and if she knows you'll hold her, you've got a friend. She has really gotten attached to her blankie and when Daisy wants to be held you'll know!
Walt is my most innocent looking child, but has been my biggest destroyer! I swear he walks around the house so innocent looking with that thumb in his mouth just thinking of what he can get into next! I could list a whole list of items he has destroyed; better yet, I'll just quote Daisy, "Walty did it!"
We feel so blessed to have our crazy lives with our five beautiful healthy children. We wish to extend our reverence and love to the Savior as we commemorate his birth at this time of year and at the same time extend our love to you. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, Danny, Jennifer, Max, Hanna, Van, Daisy & Walt Jensen

The DESTROYER

The other day we forgot Max wasn't getting his usaul ride to a friends house so by the time we picked him up from school we were 40 minutes late. Danny had picked him up and said that you could tell he'd been ctying. I felt so bad I said, "when you guys get home I'm going to take Max to get a treat." When they got home Danny left the car running while getting the kids out of the car because Max and I were going to get that treat. As soon as Danny got Walt out of his car seat Walt jumped up front and locked the door. Danny yelled for Max to hurry and unlock the door, Walt looked at Danny and as quick as could be he threw the car into drive! Max unlocked the door and Danny was able to put it back in park a few seconds too late. The plant and the front pillar of the house got banged up and the car got a little scratched up with a little crack in it, but thankfully no one was hurt. We feel so blessed that no one was hurt, the other 3 kids were standing outside the car already, to the side of the car. Hanna said, she tried to stop the car (with her hands). Scary!

Max

Max has said a couple of funny things lately and I just remembered I need to get them down before I forget.
First of all he is only 7, but his looks and interests make it hard for me to treat him as though he's only 7. Max always wants something for Christmas that is much too old for him. This year it's a BB Gun, last year it was a REAL bow n arrow. Since he was 4 he has asked for a DS, X Box and lately a Wii (and I just don't think you need to spend that much on 1 child, and I don't love having that sort of stuff around all the time). We were thinking of getting the Wii this year as a family gift, but we feel our other kids are still just a little too young, maybe next year, we'll see. Max was complaining that he has never gotten what he's asked for (which he might be right from age 4 and up). He said, "Last year I wanted a real bow n arrow and you got me a fake one!" We'll see if he's happy with his "fake" bb gun this year (it's the airsoft bb gun, they still shoot far and are scary, we will have lots of safety rules).
Oh man, now I can't remember the other funny thing, I'll have to post it later.

Thanksgiving 2010

We enjoyed our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Danny's brother Jeff's house. This is the only picture I took, it was of the pies. Hopefully, I'll get some pictures later from Danny's mom.
This year Danny and I made a turkey ( there were 2), rolls, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, cream corn, 2 pies and artichoke dip. There just has to be a lot of food at Thanksgiving!
We all had a great time visiting with the family. We even stayed the night so that I could do some "Black Friday" shopping with everyone, which I enjoy even though I don't buy much it's still fun going.

OUCH!

Hanna fell off the trampoline and landed face first on the big'ol rocks. Poor girl. OUCH! When I toke this picture she was feeling fine, but she's a girl and had to put on her sad face.