We had a fun day last week. We invited some friends to see "Horton Hears A Who", with us, went to lunch, then played in the water. They were so cute playing together, I love summer, thanks for the fun day guys!
Jake, Anna, Bryn, Brysen & Parker
They were racing thru the water
Anna and Parker.....cute kids!
This is Bryn, she has been Brysen's "girlfriend" since he was 3! You got great taste B, I will give you that! ;)
Jake in Paige's pool
I have been wanting to re-do our yard forever! First thing when we bought the house we took the chain link fence down. Then came the ugly dwarf pine trees. I recently painted the backyard fence, covered up some of our flowerbeds with sod, and filled our existing beds with perennials that I love. I live to go sit outside and just admire the finished product!
We made our way up to Idaho 4th of July weekend for our somewhat annual Jensen Reunion. The kids did great...they zoned out on movies all the way there, except Paige she was skreatching at them because they were ignoring her.
We had so much fun visiting and doing fun activities.
We took the kids up to the Idaho Falls Temple and greenbelt on Thursday to show them where Mom and Dad were married. It was fun being in our old stomping grounds. We sure miss I.F.
Friday was a lazy day and we just shopped and watched Jack be a pyro with the fireworks that they bought. Thanks for the show Jack!
Saturday we met up for breakfast and then traveled to Lava Hot Springs. We wanted to swim at the pool and arrived right when they opened, but there was still a couple hundred people...new plan. We decided to float the river. I don't have any pictures of that because I didn't want to get my camara wet. We had so much fun. It was a little scary in a few spots, but we loved it. Adam about broke his butt hitting a rock, he is still hurting. Afterwards we went swimming and then fireworks later that night.
We had a blast taking the kids for rides on the 4 wheeler...wish we had one!
Sunday was a layed back day, getting packed and playing games. Thanks for all the fun guys, it was great to see everyone. 
Our boys loved seeing their cousins and couldn't get enough of eachother. Miss you guys already.
Our troop did't make it very far on the way home before snoozin', except Miss P.
LAST NIGHT WE HOPPED IN OUR CAR.....AND TOOK A DRIVE..... WE SAW A WATERFALL....... AND A MOOSE.....AND IT WAS A GREAT NIGHT!
Adam and I are hooked on, "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE?" It's the only reality show, if you can call it that, we watch. There was a dance on the other night that we both loved and have watch repeatedly more times than we are willing to admit. Here it is, and the really great part is that these two dancing are from Salt Lake. It's much better to view on the TV but here it...
Jake had a spill yesterday on his blades. I have to admit we have been very fortunate with our kids, we have not had any ER runs thus far. I think Jake was pretty close yesterday, he almost put his fromt teeth all the way through his lip. He has a nice war wound on his chin for good measure.
Today we turned in our loot from the service project. We wanted to thank everyone for being so generous. It felt good putting the toys ect. that you donated in the box today at Jake's school. It was fun to see how excited the boys were about it. We went to TJ Max last night to finish up the shopping. I think we found some great deals and made the money contributions go along ways. We wanted you to see your contributions and what your donations bought. Thanks you guys, it must be such a comfort to the Mitchell family to know that so much good had come out of such a sad trial for their family. You guys are awesome!
I have had some friends invite me to go to a few different work out classes with them. The first was a Zumba class. It was dancing with a Latin twist. I was horrible!
Then my neighbor, who had a baby a few months after me, invited me to a kick boxing class. Well, it kicked my butt! It was quite humbling really. Considering my history with gymnastics, dance ect. you would think I would do OK. Well, I stink! I felt like such an uncoordinated old fart.
It was interesting to take a step out of my safe little work out world, but I will happily be back on my treadmill embarrassment free, or at least I hope so!
I have had a few friends write to me and asked if I have been kidnapped or something. Sorry guys, we have been very busy in the yard prepping it for sod. And as I mentioned before, Paige has been sick. She is finally feeling better and no longer attached to mom's hip.
I hope you all a good Father's Day weekend! I sure felt bad for Adam. We (meaning Adam) put sod in on Saturday morning. After that he helped coach a soccer game. Then he helped move in a new family in our ward. The whole Elders Quorum Presidency had to talk on Sunday so he was also prepping for that. Paige being sick didn't help things run smoothly Sunday morning. I wanted to hear Adam''s talk but I wasn't sure she would make it through. She zonked out and slept through a lot of the meeting, which was nice. Adam did great, and after sacrament sis and I headed home. I bought the stuff to make Adam favorite, strawberry waffles. Needless to say our day was a little off schedule and he had them for dinner. We was such a trooper and never complained, although he spent most of the weekend helping other people. That's my husband, he is awesome that way! He did get a ladder that he has been wanting though, and the boys bought him some smelly.
We love you Adam Ray! Thanks for all that you do, our children couldn't ask for a more loving, devoted Dad!
I just wanted to write down the cute thing B said to me the other day. He always has something colorful to say.
I was digging in the yard yesterday. I had moved a lot of dirt from the front yard to the back. B had been playing and didn't realize how much work I had gotten done. As I was standing looking at the spot I had just cleared of dirt, Brysen impressed with what I had done said, "DANG! YOU GO GIRL!". I had a good laugh!
In honor of 12 year old Kayden Mitchell, who was killed last week in a bicycle accident, Jake's school is doing a service project. They are gathering certain items to donate to Primary Children's Hospital.
We thought this was a great opportunity to encourage service with our kids and thought this might be something you would be interested as a family as well. If you decide to donate any of the following items, I would be more than happy to pick them up. These items are due on June 25th. Thanks so much!
~WASHABLE MARKERS
~SPANISH BOOKS
~INFANT (CAUSE & EFFECT) TOYS
~MATCHBOX CARS (OR ANY SMALL CARS)
~CRAFT KITS
~SOUND BOOKS
~TOYS
~BOOKS
~SUPPLIES
~BLANKETS
~MUSIC
~GAMES
This is the video I took of B hula hooping at Sean and Angie's. It was so hilarious! I wish you could see what he was doing with his tongue better. Brysen was over at his "girlfriend's" house the other day. He and Bryn were having fun playing the Wii. Jen recorded Brysen playing a boxing game, it's a hoot. If you want to see it go to my friends and family links and go to Steve and Jen.
So we had our first summer BBQ with the Boyer's & Grunander's on Sunday. Adam wanted to make a chicken receipt we got from a friend. We didn't have the exact ingredients, but we made do. It turned out pretty good. We had to go on a walk so Danny wouldn't fall asleep, but he managed a cat nap when we were outside eating ice cream. It was a fun night....thanks for coming guys, it was good to finally get together again!
We had tickets to the Real game Saturday night. Jason and Heidi have season tickets so we met there. It was a really good game. The other team was very physical so it made things interesting. We won! Thanks for the fun night guys!
Jake and B
Adam and Sis
So we got home and the next night was the end of the year soccer party. I mentioned before that half of us had been together for 5 years. This was our last party with all of our team together. We are losing some of our players. It was fun to have everyone together one last time. Looks like Jake is going to play after all, along with football. Self inflicted craziness is what it is....
Jake getting his trophy
Coach Andrew and Coach Adam. We had all the kids sign a ball for Andrew
Our team, minus Kaden and Tanner
OK, I am attempting to post about our trip and go in order and remember everything! Yikes! Here it goes.
We got to Indiana Wednesday night. They have a camper that we slept in so we told the kids this trip doubled as a camping trip too. Thursday morning Paige was up at 6 am which is 4 am our time! So to let everyone sleep we went on a walk.
Thursday we went on the Mom's day that I already posted about. Later that night we went to Quintin's Pre-school program. It was pretty cute
Friday was a lazy day. We hung around the house. It was the kids' last day of school and Sean and Angie went to watch the kids get their awards. Grandpa got the golf balls out and the boys had a blast using Sean's front yard as a driving range
Saturday, Sean and Angie had friends over for a BBQ. It was nice to get to visit with everyone. I started feeling sick so I had to go lay down, I didn't get to visit as much as I wanted. We did fireworks after. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't turn out. Here are pics of Brysen and Jake trying to hula hoop. I was laughing so hard I was crying...
Jake did pretty well
Brysen was a different story, he was almost doing the splits!
Sunday, the guys went to the race. We girls just hung around the house. We attempted a bike ride but didn't get very far, so then later in the day we went to the park. Mom made spaghetti. Yummo!
Monday we went to the zoo. We had a lot of fun. They had so many things that we don't have here at our zoo. 
All of the kids after the dolphin show
Feeding the giraffe
Getting to pet the elephants
Jake touching a shark
Brysen was freaked out but tried to be brave and attempted to touch the sharks
Paige and Dad playing in the water
After the zoo we headed to the memorial for the USS Indy. Most of you know about it, but it's the ship my grandpa was on during the war that was sunk. He spent days in shark infested water, and survived. I thought it was fitting that the last thing we did at the zoo was pet sharks and then headed to the memorial.
Here is our whole group of 16. I loved getting to take my family there for the first time. I hadn't been back sine it was dedicated. Having the whole Shaffer clan there was a neat experience for me.
After we got home that night Mom and Dad watched all the kids so Adam and I, Sean and Angie could go on a date. We went to Outback. It was yummy. I love their soup and salad!
Angie decided to let the kids ride their miniature horse. Our kids were excited. It didn't go as planned. When B was on the horse it was spooked by the dogs and bolted. Luckily Angie grabbed B and he was fine, a little scared but fine. I wasn't sure if Jake would go after seeing that but he did. He was on for a minute and then the horse bolted again and he flew off. It was pretty funny. I am not sure if the will want to ride a horse for a while. Thanks for trying though Ang!
Brysen enjoying his ride
I only got one picture of Jake before he went sailing through the air!
Dad and Sean took us to the airport. We were dreading the long flights home. But to be honest our kids were awesome. On the flights out and back they did amazing. We were so proud of them. We had a wonderful visit. Thank You for everything guys, we miss you!
The boys spotted this car in the airport before we flew home!
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Adam and Sis haning out. We had a 3 hour lay over in Denver
Brysen keeping himself busy
Jake being silly
Well we made it! We had a loooong day on Wednesday, but we are here. It's been fun seeing my family and getting to know my nieces and nephews better. My kids are in heaven. I have barely seen them, they have has so much fun visiting with their cousins. They are not going to want to go home. I am so grateful they have had this opportunity to see everyone here.
Thursday we had our Mom's day out. We went and had mani/pedi and facials. Then we went and had lunch at Olive Garden. Yummo! Friday we braved the movies with all 16 of us. We saw Indiana Jones. Very fitting I think! ;) Last night we had a cookout with some of Sean and Angie's friends from their ward. They were all very sweet. We did fireworks after the BBQ. Some of the dogs were chasing the sparks, it was very funny. Today we are skipping church. SShhh, don't tell anyone. Adam, Sean and my Dad are at the Indy Race. They are going to have a blast, I am excited for them!
Tomorrow we are going to the zoo, vising the memorial for the ship my grandpa was on during the war, then going on a date night with Sean and Angie. Full day! I can't believe how time is flying! It's going to be sad to leave, I hope it won't be another 6 years before we get together again.
I am sooooo emarassed! While fiddleing around with my blog I was listening to my playlist of music. One of my favs came on, 'Your Beautiful', by James Blunt. As I listened I heard a version that I had no idea existed. He used some very unflattering profanity. Shame on you James Blunt!!! I am so sorry if anyone heard that while visiting our blog. I guess I have to be more careful when choosing songs.
I have had a few friends have this on their blog and thought I would do it too. If you are looking at this right now, consider yourself tagged!
3 JOYS
1. My Family
2. The Beach
3. Reading
3 FEARS
1. Something bad happening my husband or my children
2. Sharks!!! Deathly afraid, even though I absolutely love the beach & I am addicted to Shark Week on the discovery channel!
3. That I will not reach a point in my life that I will be at peace & content with myself
3 GOALS
1. Be physically fit
2. Start learning to play the guitar again
3. Be a better person all around
3 OBSESSIONS
1. Blogging! Just ask anyone! Although I think only 2 people read it, but I still love it!
2. The "Twilight" series. I read all 3 in 5 days. Uhg, that's embarrassing!
3. Looking at licence plates to see when they expire!
3 SURPRISING FACTS
1. Embarrassingly enough I was my high schools mascot! I had tried cheerleading when I was younger and didn't want to be around all the drama, so I did the mascot thing.(not my idea to share this one)
2. I got a tattoo on a rebellious streak when I was 19. It's on the bottom of my foot. You can barely see it though, it's mostly rubbed off. It was a daisy.
3. I just chopped a ton of hair off today. About 6-7 inches. Yikes! I didn't get the cut I wanted. Thank goodness it will grow back!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! We were visiting with some friends, and talked about how some people celebrate Mother's Day the whole weekend. Heck Ya, that's what we do! Since we go to church on Sunday we can't really do a lot so...it should be called Mother's Day Weekend! Plus, don't we earn to be pampered and adored as much as possible?
Saturday I helped delivered corsages for our Young Women's fundraiser. When I got home Adam and the boys had the flowers I had bought planted for me. They are my favorite, Gerber Daisies! They did a great job! Afterwards we headed to Cafe Rio for lunch...Yumo!
Sunday I headed off to church with my beautiful corsage on. Paige's whole mission for the day was to destroy it. After we got home the boys showered me with cards and homemade gifts. They were so excited and cute about it! Later, Adam let me take a nap. When I woke up he had made one of my favorite meals...spegehtti..Double Yumo! After dinner I was checking everyone's blog to see what they had done for the weekend. When I came to ours I found Adam's very thoughtful message. What a sweetheart. He asked me if I had cried, and I said' "Of Course". He admitted to getting teary-eyed writing it. Oh how I love my girly man!
I feel so blessed to have the love that I have in my life. My children and Adam are amazing and I couldn't ask for more! Thank you for loving me even on my most unlovable days! 
My beautiful flowers!
Well here it is my first blog post of my life, and for a cause that is very important to me, to tell my wife HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ! Shannnon you are exactly the mom that I hoped you would be when I married you. You have loved your kids with all your heart. And have raised them to love in return. You have taught them to be honest, respectful, responsible, helpful gentlemen. You have brought our little girl into all our lives, and I hope she can follow in her moms footsteps.
What a friend you are to anyone in your life, no one could ask for a better one.
You are an awesome wife. You take care of me when I am sick, rub my back when it hurts, you see to all my needs as a wife, thanks. I love you so much.
You are my number one priority. You are the other part of me. I appreciate all that you do for me, our family, and our home. Not only are you good looking, but you are so beautiful on the inside. Keep letting that beauty show.
I feel lucky, I am blessed, and so thankful for having you as my friend, wife, and my companion. Forever yours Handsome
Today I went over to a friends house to scrapbook. I didn't get a thing done! I had a nice time with my girlfriends, but Paige was fussy so I decided to just visit. The highlight for me was getting to spy on Jake at school. My friends backyard faces the playground at the school. I knew right where to find Jake..... playing soccer. We have wondered many times how he plays with and treats his friends when we aren't present. So today I was able to investigate. Nothing too eventful happened. Jake did collide pretty hard with another boy and was on the ground for a little bit. He eventually got up and was fine. I have to tell you it was fun spying in on him and him not having a clue! My girlfriend said I could come peak in on him and time, and use her binoculars too!
So our yard needs a lot of work. Last summer when we bought the house the first thing we did was cut down two ugly pine trees in the front yard. After we cut them down the stumps were left. We also had some hideous rose bushes that needed to go too. So today we took care of that. I dug up some of the roses, and our neighbor pulled out the stumps with his truck. We are on our way to a fabulous yard! Here is a pic...
This was our biggest one
Last night was Jake's last soccer game. It is bitter sweet to have the season over. We have been playing together with his team since Jake was 3 years old. Some of the kids aren't coming back including Jake. He wants to play football in the Fall instead of soccer. We have really grown to love the families and especially the kids over the past 5 years. It's been so fun to see them grow up. We are really going to miss everyone. Even if Jake goes back to the team after football, it won't be the exact players that we had before. We are going to have a party in a couple of weeks and it will be nice to have that time to take pictures together and say goodbye to some of our kids and their families.
I wanted to share some pictures from our Cinco de Mayo party. Heidi's neighbors are from Mexico so they were celebrating and invited us. We had some yummy food and the kids had fun taking a crack at the pinata. The missionaries showed up and hung out for a while too. It was a fun night!
After having our fun day with dad, Adam went in to work last night around 4 pm. He had a pretty rough night. He didn't get home until a little after 7 am this morning. Needless to say things didn't go as smoothly as they had hoped. He ended up working a 16 hour shift. Granted, the extra money right before our trip will be nice, but that's a long night. I have to give him props though, he came home pretty tired, but he was happy and upbeat about his night. He handles lack of sleep so well. Thank goodness one of us does! I have a great husband, he takes such good care of us and loves us so much! Thank You Handsome, I LOVE YOU!
Having Adam home today was awesome! We all got up this morning and walked Jake to school. After our walk we headed over to visit Adam's mom. We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to Home Depot. We wanted to price out some ideas that we have for the house. Geesh, we have expensive taste! It was fun dreaming of things we want to do someday. We stopped by Heidi's to see how her remodeling was going. She has quite the project under way. She's been working her little toosh off re-doing her bathroom and kitchen. It's lookin' great Heidi!. It's making me want to get some projects going here at our house!
For the last few years I have played Bunco with some girlfriends from my old neighborhood. We switched which night of the week we play on, so I decided I needed to quit because of Adam's conflicting schedule. Tonight was my last night, and I had a blast. Thanks for the fun times and great laughs, especially tonight! You guys are awesome and I will miss...well a few of you, but not all of you! Just Kidding ! ;)
Adam has to test some pipes at work tomorrow to see if they will leak or not .He will be home during the day and then go in tomorrow night to do the testing while no one is there. It will be so nice to have him home. Between you and me I am hoping to get some yard work done! That is if Mother Nature can make up her mind about the weather!
