Coming at you live from Jamestown

I'm inserting the pictures and I'll just tell you about them. It's like a bedtime story Temple Thursdays happened this week! First time. Hillers drove. The plan is to go every Thursday at 6:00 AM to make it back to get to school in time for all the kids (all are at different schools). 3 more will be joining in January (Abby pratt is one of them. So crazy). I told dad on the phone later that Hallie and Blake were noticeably just happier all day. The power of going to the temple is so real. Halie had to take a nap that night before practice but who cares!:). Missy Hiller asked Blake to make a temple playlist to listen to to and from the temple. Praise by Elevation Worship was first on the list. We all love that song so much! Its chilly here but has been so sunny. One afternoon I asked Lucas if he wanted to take a bike ride to Wheeler Farm with Jacob and I (Hallie came at the last minute which was so fun for me). I bought tokens to watch them milk a cow at the last second and Halie got to talk to the "farmer" who was a 16 year old girl that had taken ANimal Sciences at GTI (Hallie's plan next semester) and got hired at Wheeler Farm. Hallie is pretty excited to try that path. She is still planning on being a vet. This semeseter she is taking Zoology as an elective (!) and I think its her favorite class. She loves dissecting and learning about all the animals. Several shots here of a homemade gift gone right. It is actually Lucas gift to Brigham (We are exchanging them this week when Jensens are all here) but it was probably not the right gift for him to help alot making. One night we spent most of the ngiht working on crafts and homemade gifts (clara is crocheting a unicorn! hello). The skate park for a tech deck just turned out super cool (with one trip to home depot for a few supplies) Blake (with a generous purchase from Dave Pratt) sold 24 loaves of bread this past Friday (Blakes Bakes is back for the cold months;) which is a new record. we were baking bread for like 6 hours. He has gotten pretty good at it I have to say! That paid off his half of an Alta ski pass so he know will get to ski with Thomas and James all winter. They were here later and helped him bring the 14 loaves over to PrattsI Blake's volleyball team won gold bracket this past Saturday in a tournament. I can't believe how much hes learned just in one season. He is a gifted athlete. A parent at the tournament came up to Coach Siri (their coach) and said "what do you do to help them have so much fun together. We all just keep watching your team when they play even though twe don't know them. They have so much fun together and they cheer so much". What a compliment! One fo the dads said "sun up to sun down energy". We left home in the dark at 6:00 AM and Blake and I got home at 6 PM. It was a long day of volleyball. But they really did bring energy all day. I LOVE that team. Blake is their libero and he even had a back row hit that scored yesterday. They won the final game in the third set 15-12. I was facetiming dad for the last half of that set. Good times! -Aubrie-dad getting to see you was such a highlight! Wow. He called us on his Uber ride back to his hotel and told us all the details (the three youngest and I)about you, how you are in person, your companion and all the things you talked about. That was special. Did the woman with the bulldog you all met together reach out to you and your companion? Dad was in DC and Cincinnati this week. All the events he has received great feedback on as a speaker. I got to read a few emails over his shoulder the other day with the feedback. It was 3 very long days he was gone and he came home pretty tired. I texted him when he was at the airport and told him Friday morning we are taking the kids to school and then going on a long walk and to breakfast together. We both needed to just catch up and be outside and be together. First ski day. Dad took the kids after school and went up to Brighton. it was pretty icy and still "preseason" but its fine. they had all their stuff laid out the night before. Lucas kept asking me if I was going with them and telling me I should. I need to figure that out. I love being outside, I love the son and I love doing things as a family. I need to learn to love skiing (maybe better skis that don't hurt so much ;)) -Robbie we hope seeing the dentist resolved the inflammation permanently after taking antibiotic. We can talk more Monday! -we are off to Stake Conference! Dad and I are singing in the choir and one of the songs is what we sang at your farewell Robbie(The exact version!) It is WEll with My Soul. Ahh I love it! Mama/Amber

In no particular order: BYU....no! our first loss was against Kansas. Ryan and Clara went to the game with all the older Pratts and Dave. I was asleep when they got home but I am sure it was sad and super fun at the same time. for how few kids are in our Primary they sure sang loud for the Primary program (it was like all the seats were filled with kids). Clara and Lucas' duet was sweet and they remembered all the words of the verse. and both gave talks. All the Primary talks were collected throughout the year from each of the kids as they gave them in regular Primary. Love that! Robbie and Aubrie had different Pdays since Robbie went to the Dallas temple with his companion on Tuesday. It sure is good to be in the temple. It always re-prioritizes my heart. Every. time. a friend Missy Hiller asked me to go to the temple with her this week and we did initatories. I just came home thinking how amazing it would be to go every day and start every day there. While there we figured out how to start back up Temple Tuesdays (but Thursdays) and take our kids every week to do baptisms. Ive wanted to do that since the Hansens moved because its so amazing but haven't felt like I could be consistent taking kids EVERY week. especially with Ryan out of town a lot. But Missy and I think Karla and another neighbor Jill will take turns and plan to make it happen starting this week. Robbie and Blake going EVERY week (in my opinion) quickly learned to feel VERY at home in the temple. What a gift! Ryan was in New York City this week and they were in the process of getting the City ready for the holidays. Remember that Aubrie and Robbie? He said all the speaking engagements went well and he felt good about it. Next week he will be in...Washington DC, Aubrie! Game night with some of the adults in our neighborhood. I remember mom and dad when you would have those when we were younger and we would sneak out to get some of the food from teh kitchen/dining room. You had such fun good friends in Florida! Two Saturdays in a row of a lot of yard work. Radiate vb club organized a fundraiser of doing yardwork at peoples homes and then you sign up for shifts. It has been so good to go work really hard for hours together (blake, hallie, ryan and I). Lots and lots of raking and bagging. Yesterday it was snowing most of the time we were doing it. But it sure feels good. I took Blake to the barber for the FIRST time in his life yesterday to shape the mop of hair he's grown out. he was LITERALLY the only non latino in their (including those getting a cut at the barbers). it was so perfect. and now he has his dream haircut ;) Our ward moved to 10:30 since our stake contracted to 4 wards. We are having a special stake conference next Sunday with another stake and we are 99% sure we are combining our two stakes into one. Veremos pues! Love you all! Amber/Mama/tu hija favorita Some random pics of the week. Hallie made swig cookies, rummikub has been a recent game favorite (we LOVE games man), Lucas' post shower spot these days, after school backyard hangout etc.

2 big wins this week

Snapshot of the week: Hallie's Volleyball end of year banquet...it was a lot of prep, but it was a really nice night and the whole event came together.  Hallie was pretty excited to be named Varsity's offensive player of the year--which was objective (it was all based on stats). She works hard at the things she does and it is pretty cool to watch.  Socially, this year has been a lot of fun for Hallie and the volleyball girls have been hanging out a lot!  Election Night. That was a surprise to see how that played out.  And I feel relieved that Trump will be our president instead of Harris.  I still have a lot of reservations about Trump,  but I feel like our country is in better hands overall. That is all I will say about that.  I've spent as much time outside in the mornings as possible this week.  It's been beautiful sunny weather.  Most of my workouts have been long walks/hikes. Sunshine often feels like the greatest need in my life. I crave the sun and being outside.  Dad spent 3-4 days in Banff, Canada and the pics were epic--he can send a few. He did get one hike in and had 3-4 speaking events while there. He was pretty nervous but he had prepared and it went well. Clara's team won the losers bracket for volleyball this Thursday.  She was fun to watch play that night, had several passes and a hit over the net.  I am glad she tried volleyball this year.  She's liked it a lot. She likes everything she does though I think.   Russ and Ryan had planned a date to dinner, Oquirrh mountain temple and then hanging out at Jay and Kaylas Friday night.  Nate and Kathy, Russ and Stacey, Jay and Kayla, Miles and us all were able to hang out.  I love being with family and cousins.  They were some of the first family I hung out with meeting Ryan and I've known them half my life now.  Good gente as mom would say.  Russ and Ryan are so alike in their sense of humor.  I was laughing pretty hard.  Kyle Ford remarried this weekend and that is why Russ and Stacey were here in Utah.  Huge BYU win last night! Utah won the first half and BYU mostly won the second half with a little help from a penalty that put them back into the game to pull out an epic catch by Roberts and eventually a last minute field goal by Ferrin to win 22-21.  Blake and Pratts chalked the Catons fence with the holY war 22-21 that took up most of their fence.  and there was an impromptu parade in Provo at like 1 in the morning and a huge party at 2:15 AM at the student athlete building.  Its been many years since we beat Utah at home.  We were all very nervous watching those last few minutes.  Pratts had a huge party for all red and blue fans at their house last night.  And today Is the primary program.  Clara and LUcas have a duet singing and a speaking part.  I love Primary program Sundays! ;) THis afternoon we are headed to Jay and Kayla for Jack's FIRST birthday.  unreal.  time flies! Spent some time with PRatts and Mariam planning out what we want to do for Thanksgiving when all the Jensens will be up here in Utah.  And we need to get on all our homemade gifts for a family gift exchange.   Robbie and Aubrie-we sent a package with a pre-holidays (tree) decor to set up and some other extra things like sheet music so you can prep some musical numbers for upcoming things. . The man checking me out at the post office couldn't believe that we could afford to have 2 missionaries out at the same time.  I said "you're right, we can't.  They are paying for it;)".  Another reason to be grateful for you both and your preparation for what you are doing now as missionaries.  I just think about you both SO much and what you are doing each day, what you are teaching about and who and how you are meeting.  And pray all the time that you will be safe and seek the Holy Ghost! Love you all!  me

November November November is here....

Hello from cold and rainy SLC and freezing calgary Canada. (dad says hi). the only way he could attend church today was to leave Saturday for his business trip so he is attending church in Calgary right next to the temple. Thank you Robbie and Aubrie for inviting us to fast for specific people/reasons with you this Sunday. I am so glad to share that with you. The kids joined in last night when we prayed and started our fast together. Sunday is the weekly pay day in a small way. I hope its a special day today. Pull up people! News from home: Our new fireplace is installed! Its wonderfully warm! THomas had a piano recital this past Friday and played Piano Man, dad learned the harmonica well enough this week to join him for that song. They sounded great! Blake's volleyball team won 3rd in the gold bracket at their tournament up in Syracuse yesterday. they are a fun team of boys. Very high energy and support each other well. The team has a good vibe. They are fun to watch. Blake is the libero and he is learning a lot and plays hard. Previously playing catcher and having fastballs fly at you without flinching and just dig them probably helped prepare him to play libero (you are basically the main defensive player of the team). Halloween and trunk or treat. Clara and Lucas were VEctor and a minion. Hallie was Barbie and Blake used the Winnie the pooh costume. Great costumes. Ill try to find a video of Lucas doing his Vector moves. The YW did a full. 3 room spooky obstacle course that we spent like 3 hours setting up with black lights, strobe lights, lots of tunnels and a room of lasers (made out of white yarn and black lights). It was actually pretty cool and very fun to do together. Blake and James threw a party at the Pratts. Hallie threw a party here with a bunch of girls and Clara invited friends over. Johnsons, Pratts, Jay and Kayla and us all trick or treated with the little kids in our neighborhood together. The stake presidency is coming to each ward today (well they announced a combined fast and testimony meeting for several wards in our stake) to announce that our stake is combining different wards together. Our ward and the 5th ward are the only wards not combining with another ward. and all the wards are being renamed so they won't have numbers in their name and the names are relevant to the area you live in. We will be the Jamestown ward now. We will be the smallest ward in the stake now ;) and since we will only have 2 wards in each building our time will change when we go to church. The combining of the 1. 14. 9. and 21st wards will help them have more people for callings etc. I don't know which bishops they release and how they'll combine callings for those wards. A lot will change for the youth activities and Sunday meetings too since we were combining all of those already. Parent teacher conference for Lucas and Clara. They are both doing amazing. Lucas teacher said they did state testing and Lucas Math skills are several grades ahead and his reading skills are NOT. ;) But that is pretty common at a Waldorf school till grade 3 because they teach reading so differently. He is thriving in school--in all ways. Clara is having a MUCH better year with her teacher. I don't know what all the changes that happened to make it better but we are so glad. She Loves to learn and it shows with how she is doing. Her teacher is NOT very warm at all, but she is deliberate and good at teaching. I am glad we kept her at Wasatch. Clara. Blake and Lucas had half days M-W and then no school Halloween and the next day. We hung out here at home more than usual (lots of playing soccer in the front yard), prepped for some Halloween things, did a bike ride on some trails near our house, went to the library, worked on a puzzle etc. and one last fun thing--Blake had won a free pass to a bunch of museums and we all went to the Clark Planetarium on Friday night and had so much fun there, went and ate dinner and then went back to see a laser light show in the Dome theater (to music by Queen). No one loved the laser light show. Blake had a headache, Ryan was crying, and Lucas said "is this almost done. (why are you tired?), no, I just want it to be done." At least they know now right ;) Pulled the frozen garden out yesterday. It's always the major sign winter is coming for me. A highlight for me this week was watching Cole (Tara and Dan's baby) all day while she had surgery (not a highlight for Tara I'm sure). He is the cutest little thing and SO chill.