Jacobs Birthday!!!

Well I can't believe it but he is 6 years old and 6 years ago on Thanksgiving day I
was eating Thanksgiving dinner at LDS hospital. Can you think of anything better???
Jacob is a sweet boy who loves making people laugh and being around his family and cousins. He loves scooters and playing star wars and especially loves playing with his sister Sally. He is also a loving big brother to his baby brother Andrew.


Jacob the day he was born

Jacob in our house in Tucson, around 10 months old

Jacobs first Halloween, not much has changed he still has that same look when he is mad


On Jacobs birthday we went up to our cabin with some cousins and played and watched movies.
Luckily only 3 of the 7 kids threw up during the night from some sort of bug. They always like to keep it lively for their parents

Jacob wanted to go bowling for his birthday party, so here is the crew that went. They had a blast and it was a big competition between the boys and the girls.Just threw this one in because I think Andrew was actually the most excited about the Jacobs new present. He walks around all day with a light saber and hits people. He is a star wars fan in the making.

Well the other day Sally and I were using the ladies room, She said " Mom when do I get to wear a Bra?" I laughed and said I don't know when you are a little bigger like 11 or 12 and then she said "Oh you mean when I am a mommy and have babies!!".
I told he you can't grow up that fast!!!
( this is her new favorite way of wearing pajamas)

A little late but we had a great Halloween with our little mermaids and Darth Vader
and our baby Giraffe. The kids loved it and were even willing to sell us there candy at
the end of the night!!!

Even though Grandpa scared the kids to death!!

FALL TIME AND TRIP TO THE NEWPORT FOR MY BROTHER DEANS WEDDING

A Year and a half ago my oldest brother Deans wife passed away from cancer and
last week we were able to celebrate with him as he remarried at the Newport Temple.
We had a great time as most of our family gathered in California.

Sally, Andrew and Jacob at the wedding reception in Dana Point

James (yes the one in the hot pink wet suit) managed to step on a huge fish hook and ended up at the hospital to get it dug out and about a dozen stitches.

First snow storm, kids loved it!!!

Labor Day

Well we had a great Labor Day to celebrate the last few days before school started. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Jacob and Sally going horse riding for their first times


Jacob riding a sheep at the Kamas Rodeo

Jacobs first day of Kindergarten, I am entering the Public Schools FUN!
After two weeks he loves it and looks forward to it. Sally is going to Holladay
Preschool two days a week with her cousing Joshua and loves it.

Andrew and I have spent the last 2 weeks canning and bottling everything
you can imagine. Thanks to my dad and his Huge Garden which he
doubled in size this year we are all very busy keeping up with it.

We are back!!! Highlights from our Summer

Lagoon with Cousins

SUN VALLEY with Jarmans

Mill Creek Canyon with cousins (it got a little messy)

Swimming at Murray Park

4th of July Mill Creek Parade, GO UTES!!!

Well we did not fall off the face of the earth but we have been very busy lately.
We got home from Italy in May and then spend a month at my parents and then moved in to our new house. Since moving into our new house we have been out of town four weeks and
have not had time to settle down yet but I am sure we will find time
to get settled once school starts in a few weeks.

We are currently spending a week in Park City and enjoying one of the last weeks
before James starts working at the BYU ( I know how is that possible???).
But we are excited to have him settled down in a school. We did have
to compromise because we decided to stay in Holliday and that he would
commute.

Jacob will be entering Kindergarten this year and Sally will be
starting at Holladay Preschool and Andrew is now one and
just started to walk and is all over the place.

More of Sicily

More of Sicily


Where is Sparky?




This is Sparky being loved by all the girls in our group at a lunch at our
Directors moms house in Todi Italy. He is usually the highlight of every
field trip and I only get him when he is hungry.



To top it off one more photo from Sicily.

Spring Break in Sicily

WHERE IS SPARKY???

1

2

3

answers-
1.Ferry ride from the boot to Sicily
2.Sparky modeling his new Oneity Clothes
3.Sparky hanging out on the beach in Cefalu

Well James program has a ten day Easter Break so we decided
to take a road trip down to Sicily. We drove down from Orvieto
and took a ferry to Messina, Sicily. We then drove down the coast
to Cefalu a beautiful city on the northern coast that dates back to the
fifth century B.C. when the Greeks settled it.

We have spent most the time just enjoying ourselves here in Cefalu and playing on the
beach and eating oranges and pastries. We also took a day trip to Palermo where we
went to church and visited Monreale. Our trip is about to come to an end, but
before it does we are heading to Agrigento (James is dragging us to more ruins) and then Catania and then heading back up Orvieto.

Here is a view of Cefalu and the beach.
more pictures to come...

Florence and Rome with Lee and Colette

Well with a little good luck from the boar we might make it back to Florence

Jacob and Sally at the Baptistry in Florence, Jacob loves smiling

Saturday day trip to Lake Bolsena, a small lake in Umbria which
is beautiful and known to be one of the cleanest lakes in all of
Europe.

Jacob at his favorite statue in Rome



WHERE IS SPARKY???

Well this is an easy one, the Duomo in Florence

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRETEL

The kids just wanted to wish Gretel a Happy Birthday
and let her know how much they love her!!!

HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY
SEE YOU SOON!!!

Finishing up February

WHERE IS SPARKY???

Photo #1 playing in Jacob and Sally's Tunnel- yes he has grown a lot
Photo #2 Sparky seems to have a knack for finding what is on his mind!!!

Last weekend we had Heather (my sister n law) and her 3 daughter done to visit for the day,
and James and Sally took them to Rome for a tour and had a great time. One
of the kids favorite things is their one on one time with their dad. He usually tries
to take one of them on the field trips or whenever he goes somewhere.

This is a great place call Villa d'Este which is a place a cardinal built with
thousands of water fountains that all flow from the natural pressure of water
and no mechanisms. We had a beautiful day and enjoyed all the fountains and the
rest of the field trip with the students from James program.



There are 22 students here and most of them are in both James Baroque and Grand Tour
classes and we are getting to know them which has been fun. James teaches and works
at the office until about 4:00pm and then he runs home and I go up to the school
to take an Italian Class with some of the students. I really enjoy learning Italian and getting
out a little every day. The beauty of it is James is learning how to cook dinner
since he has the kids at home at that time of the day. When I am done they usually
meet me up at the school and we go for a walk and get a treat of some sort, cookies, gellato, chocolate or whatever sounds good that night and then we go home and get the kids to bed and
James works on his Dissertation for a few hours while I pick up and do laundry.

This was a field trip that James took Jacob on in Sienna, which is one of our favorite cities here.
It is about one hour North/East of us and it has a beautiful large center Piazza that
we always enjoy just hanging out in and letting the kids do whatever.
Obviously Jacob is loving the Height in this picture as they are looking down from the clock tower to get an overview of the city.

Weekend in Bologna

Weekend with my
Sister n law and her three daughters in Bologna



WHERE IS SPARKY?

1. Sparky at St. Maggiore Duomo in Bologna
2. Sparky at a museum infront of famous painting?? I will ask James
3.Sparky infront of Neptune fountain In Bologna (He seems alittle excited
about what he is seeing behind him!!!)


POP QUIZ - where is the first place you find in a new city while traveling
abroad with little kids?

DING DING DING - if you guesed McDonalds you are correct
(more for the bathroom than the food especially with a 3 and 5 year old)

FOR PAPA SWENSEN we thought you would appreciate Jacob licking
his ketchup out to the last drop.

SOME MORE PHOTOS FROM OUR TRIP


DONT ASK I DONT KNOW!!!