May Mayhem!

Thanks everyone for the updates, I love it, and I know you all do too!

Grandpa & Grandma:
Dear Family Members,
April was a busy month for us retired people. We spent many hours Screening Preschoolers eyes for Lazy Eye We had about 12 children who struggled to see the chart. We hope the parents will follow through and go to a doctor to check our results. You who have children who will attend Kindergarten or first grade this year, will need to have this done. I believe this is part of the Kindergarten registration. We hope this is done for you.

The big event was the wedding for Kelly and Steph. We saw their apartment this week. It looks great. We wish them well . Their blog gives good details of that event.
We congratulate Brent and Melissa on their adoption proceedings. We look forward to those events.

If any of you have not seen the Movie "Emma My Story" Be sure and see it. It is in Movie theaters. We have also been following The Joseph Smith Papers that is on Ch 14 at 8 pm . Sunday nights These are papers found from both our church and the reorganized church.. They tell of other record kept by Joseph Smith. Did You know he wrote 3 accounts of the first vision? Did you ever tell of an incident in your life the same way three times? This is the same idea.

We enjoy St George And stay very busy but we also enjoy being in Draper. We enjoy drop in visits from our family members. We saw both of the Jensen boys and hope we will see some of you up north. I have said this before. We really enjoy your blogs Keep up the good work.

Our flowers are out in St George. This is really a pretty time of the year. We are about a month ahead of Draper as for as the flowers go. I suppose this will also effect hay fever.

We are both well and enjoy every day.

We encourage all of our family members to write a note for this news letter.
Keep up the good work. Tricia.
We Appreciate your work.

Love from Grandpa and Grandma.
Grandma is the scribe for April

Ron & Maud Mary:
Our family hasn't done anything super exciting this last month. We are just trying to get things done so we can spend the summer in Rexburg.

Karen is finally done with school for the summer and is thrill that it is over for this year (she had some "interesting" room mates). Anne has 3 1/2 weeksleft of school and is very jealous that Karen is done. As you can tell we are all very excited for school to be out and summer started.

We are also excited that Braden will officially be part of our family on July 16th.Then in August will officially and eternally be part of our family.

Eric is also done with school and is excited for the month break that he gets. Now he can work in his yard all he wants. He is going to take some classes this summer though. If you haven't looked at their blog, you should and see Shannon's new hobby. We think it is great as long as we don't have to get near them.

We are also glad that Grandma and Grandpa are back in Draper now so we can see them more often. We hope you all have a great month of May and enjoy the last few weeks of school.

Dan & Verna family:
We are all really excited for the end of the school year. Lacie will be graduating on May 21st, Tanya and Courtney will have their "promotional exercises" from 9th grade on May 20th.
Dan has finished another semester and will begin his summer semester soon.
Verna has been busy with year end stuff at school with Math Core Tests. She also received a new calling after having been retired for the past 6 months in Ferron Creek Ward. She is now the official Relief Society Chorister and permanent Lesson Substitute.

Brandon, Suzanne & Keaton:
Happy Cinco de Mayo!

April flew by for us but we can't seem to think of anything to report for the month. We continue to hold our Nursery callings faithfully and Brandon does his best to sing during singing time. We had a next door neighbor move and we welcomed a new family to the neighborhood. They are from PA. They lived in Korea for a year while the husband was serving in the Army. They have a 5 year old daughter that Keaton enjoys playing with.

Yesterday, we attended a regional conference. It was a nice brake from having to keep 18 two year olds content. We are excited for the Wilkinson family get together and this is to say to all that we will be there.

April was a sad month for us. Suzanne's Grandpa passed away after holding on for so long for his loved ones. He was a World War II Veteran and we watched as he was given a five gun salute and we listened to the bugle call taps.

On a lighter note, unfortunately I was not able to use any bereavement days because the funeral was held on a Saturday. During that time, we also heard that Grandpa Wilkinson was not doing well due to a bout with pneumonia. From the sound of things from my mom and Diana, I thought maybe I would get a chance to use bereavement after all but we are extremely happy that that was not the case. Also, we learned that Grandma Higbee was not doing well and again I thought that maybe bereavement was meant to be but happily it has not.

We again like to congratulate the newlyweds Kelly and Stephanee. It was nice to see both of you. Hopefully you do not fall off the face of the earth like your other siblings.

To you Jazz fans out there. Why can't Korver shoot well in the playoffs and what's up with his defense?

A funny story to end. Saturday, I worked in the backyard and Keaton was doing his best to help. On a part of our walkway, I noticed a couple ant hills and I was trying to use ant spray (killer) and of course Keaton wanted to do it. I wouldn't let him so Keaton started stomping on the ant hills. I grabbed Keaton's hand and tried to pull Keaton away and Keaton fell. He then proceeded to cry and I took him inside because I could not console him. I left Keaton with Suzanne and went back outside. As Keaton was walking off to wash his hands. He turned to Suzanne with tears in his eyes and sobbing as he said, "Daddy pushed me." He has since forgiven me and we are buddies again.

Last of all, Happy Birthday to all the May birthdays and if you don't get a card from us. We probably forgot to mail it. Until next month...

Gary & Beverly Family:
April has been so mild in AZ. We have enjoyed this spring. Temps in the 80's and cools down nicely at night. No 100's YET. Bev and Gary have been busy doing Young Single Adult activities. Gary has golfed. Bev as joined a book club, so is busy reading to stay caught up.

Riley and Tricia are busy with kids, school, softball and baseball. They are looking forward to summer to have a break from chaos! Chelsey has been nominated to play on All Stars, we will find out if she makes it on June 1. Corbin is loving baseball and Keegan and Kaylix love cheering for both Corbin and Chelsey, and everyone loves being outside, when the weather cooperates!

Britany and Jeremy are doing ok. They have had a lot of flu going around in their nieghborhood and one of them seems to get it everytime. Also if you look on their blog, they are having some water problems. They are surviving.

Kellen and Camille are glad that April is over. Kellen is done with finals and will be graduating from the U. They are still waiting to hear where they will be next year for grad school.

We hope everyone is planning on attending the Wilkinson picnic! We will make Food assignments in June's Newsletter. See you in June
* We wanted to know how many people will be attending the summer party, but right now, only 9 people are coming! So, here is what I want you to do this time, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and tell us how many people from your family will be coming. If you are not coming, you can either tell us or not, don't worry, you won't get any hate mail for saying no!

Dwayne & Patty Family:
Dwayne and Patty: Dwayne has been busy with his church calling as Ward Mission Leader. He organized a mission blitz in our ward to find the inactives and the non-members. It was very successful, and the bishop and stake pres. were very impressed with the success that they had. I have been busy with End of Level testing at school, and trying to decide what colors to paint the remaining rooms in our home. We found out the other day that we are going to be grandparents again. We are so...... excited.

Ben and Alissa: Both Ben and Alissa have been busy with their jobs, Ben's new business is getting ready to get off the ground. They are also staying busy with Jacob who is an active 2 year old and has learned that famous word " NO ".

Todd and Jade: Are all settled into their new condo. Todd is finishing up his first year of nursing school and is looking forward to the summer break. Jade will be starting a new job as front desk Manager at the Washington City Community Center. They are also expecting their first child around Thanksgiving time.

Steph: Is enjoying the warm California weather, and staying busy at work. She is coming home for a visit in June. I am so..... excited to see her.

Heather: Is working for a dentist in St. George and loving her new job. She has been staying with Todd and Jade but has decided to move into off campus student housing. Her and Jade are happy that IN and OUT has finally opened up in St. George. Now if they would only put one in Salt Lake.

Hal & Diana Family:
Hello family, Thanks to all of you that came and supported us at Kelly and Steph's wedding. It was fun to see you.
Life is crazy right now for me as I get ready to end another school year.
Everything is going great with our family. We are looking forward to summer and maybe getting to go somewhere, haven't figured out where or when but somewhere.
Hal and Diana

Jeremy, Laura & Paul:
Jeremy got accepted to USU grad school in Rehabilitation Counseling. He starts part time this summer as a distance student. Paul will turn 2 years old on May 18. Hooray for these big accomplishments for the two boys in our family.

Updates to hold you over till the big one!!!

Sorry to Karen and Jessica, I have been overwhelmingly busy, and haven't checked in for a few days, but thank you for sending in updates, I love it!!!

Karen:

I love looking at people’s blogs and seeing pictures. Here are a few from my family recently.

Only 3 days left of classes!!! Yeaaaaaaaaaaa…Finals week is next week. Good luck to all college students who have finals coming.

Love, Karen

p.s. the reunion is coming up, I hope you all are making arrangements to come. Even if you don’t want to participate, we’ll have a Nintendo wii in grandma’s and grandpa’s trailer to play. It’s even fun watching grandma and grandpa try to beat each other at bowling. See you soon.

.

Jessica & Josh:

HI Family

I thought it was finally time to contribute to the family newsletter. I always assume everyone just looks at our blog and then they will be updated. You know what happens when you assume! I learned that valuable lesson the first day of school freshman year from my geometry teacher. Things have been going really well. I guess I will just go down the line and give everyone a run down on our little family.

Josh- He drew out for the deer hunt and is super excited about it. I'm happy about it to because I still remember how bad he pouted the year that he didn't draw out! He has also started to work-out. I think he is in training for the deer hunt but he hasn't said anything about that. He has had alot of time this month at home with the kids while I have worked and he does such a great job with them.

Jessica- I am doing great. I have a Half-Marathon that I am training for and run it on May 3rd. After that race then I can concentrate on the St. George Marathon in Oct. I hope to get Josh to run alot with me this summer. I am now working in Mammography and really like it. I am preparing to take my boards for it and get my license. If I'm going to handle breasts all day I want to get paid more for it!

McKendry- The past month she has grown up on me. She has a crazy imagination and loves to play the computer and has to tell me how to play some of the games. She is in a dance class and has her final recital on May 13th. I think we are going to try soccer next. She is a great big sister and loves to play with/harass Connor any chance she gets.

Connor- If you have checked our blog lately then you know he had to have an EEG. We still haven't got the results back on that yet but I am trying not to think the worst. There are worse things then epilepsy. He had his top four teeth come in all in the same week! He also had grown so much in the past month. He's still not interested in walking but I think he will soon enough.

Well that is quite an update and hope everyone enjoyed! Have a great month and hope to see you at the family party. Still trying to work that weekend free!

Love the Josh Jensen's

Very Exciting News!!!!!

We just wanted to let everyone know we went to court today and Elf is “legally free and clear” to be adopted!
We will start the process immediately and have the adoption hearing scheduled for July 16! Yea!
We are so excited and wanted to share with all of you!
Thanks for your love, support and prayers!

Brent, Melissa & Boys