Henderson Update

Things have been changing around here yet again, and we sure are busy! 

Here's what we've been up to...

Jason: Started working a new job up on campus as a bus driver. He really likes it a lot and it is a lot less stressful than Olive Garden. Since he stopped working at Olive Garden we get to see him on weekends and holidays which hasn't happened in YEARS! Jason also got a new calling as the ward clerk and that has him busy attending bishopric meetings and keeping the ward organized. 

Jen: Once Jason got his new job, I was able to quit working at TJ Maxx and stay home with Marlene. My schedule was conflicting with Jason's too much and so I put in my 2 weeks awhile back. I'm so glad to be out of that stressful/crazy atmosphere and have fun at home with my baby girl. I also just got a new calling as the 2nd Sunday Relief Society teacher. I taught this last week and it was great!

Marlene: Our crazy girl now has 11 teeth, including 2 molars with a 3rd poking through. She is also completely done with bottles! (Can I get an AMEN?!) The transition went really smooth, and she now drinks milk out of a sippy cup twice a day. Thankfully, she really likes sleep and doesn't need a bottle to crash at the end of the day. 

Right now she likes: 

sitting in her new pink chair

watching bubble guppies and saying "Bubble! Bubble!"

climbing on EVERYTHING

following us down the hall

any chance she gets to play in her room

playing in water (either bath or outside)

being loud at church

wrapping herself up in her blankie

saying "Uh oh" every time she drops something

sneaking things off the table or counter

eating Applejacks

When she sees Daddy for the first time in awhile, and excitedly says: "Hi dada!" 

She doesn't like:

getting in trouble for sneaking things off the table or counter

when the fridge is opened (It is her life mission to close that door!)

 long car rides/sleeping in the car

when mommy tries to feed her things with a spoon
waking up sweaty
when someone goes outside without her

We've had lots of fun introducing Marley to new things like sprinklers and kiddie pools lately to beat the heat. We have a water baby on our hands here, and she is not scared at all! This is from a few weeks ago where we introduced her to this toy:

We're also going to start introducing Marley to nursery at church which will hopefully go well. She's not a clingy baby by any means, I'm just mostly worried about her being cranky. Church is during nap time, so we might have a few meltdowns. 

Our little family is enjoying some down time after being busy with trips to Disneyland and my mom coming to visit last week. We're barbequing a lot, eating ice cream, and having fun playing with our crazy girl. 

Our Fourth of July

Our holiday weekend was packed full of fun. We are lucky that Jason works a job now that gives him holidays and weekends off. 

On the night of the 3rd, we watched South Salt Lake's fireworks from our front yard because they were only a block away. It was so nice to go outside 5 minutes before, and then go straight to bed afterwards. 

The next morning we headed down the street for the city "parade." (I use the term parade loosely because it was lame, and literally cars driving down the street.) The best part was that it was so close and Marlene loved it anyway, even though she's too young for all the candy they toss out. We also enjoyed a very American breakfast of hot dogs and 
donuts from 7-eleven. 

After the parade we headed home, Marley took a nap, and then we drove down to Cedar Hills. Once we were there we enjoyed spending the day with Jason's family. We barbequed, played games outside, and Marley had a BLAST on the trampoline. 

After we wore Marley out, she crashed hard down in the basement and we went to shoot off our fireworks. Jason's dad bought a huge pack at Costco, so we had lots of fun! And we could see fireworks going off all around the valley too. 

  We had a great day with family, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to 
celebrate our great country.

Trip To Disneyland

Last week we had such a great time at Disneyland! We were able to go there with my entire family, which hasn't all been together since we blessed Marlene. Because my family is so spread out and busy, we decided several months ago that it was time to schedule a "Farmer family reunion." Disneyland was the place we decided on, and we all had a blast. 

This being Marlene's first road trip, we decided to split the trip into 2 days. Last Sunday we loaded up the car and made the drive to St. George, and Marlene did great. There were a few melt-downs due to sun in the eyes, or toys being dropped but she was a trooper. 

After spending the night in St. George, we drove the rest of the way to Anaheim and got there around 4. Once we got to the hotel, we had to deal with some drama because our Suite was only allotted 2 parking spaces, and my family would have 4 altogether. We were the 3rd car to get there, so we had to do some scrambling around town to find a space for our and the Watkins' car because our hotel was full. 

Once things calmed down we were able to enjoy family time. The next day we headed to Disneyland for the first of four days in the parks. 

We had a lot of fun, but the first day I think we over-did it a little bit and by the end of the day everyone was a little fried. We headed home after seeing Fantasmic and went straight to bed. PS: The Giants Mickey shirts were a HUGE hit. We got at least 20 compliments, and one lady wanted her picture taken with us.

Day 2 we headed to California Adventures. Ryan Watkins (The Fast Pass Master) got in line to get passes for Radiator Springs Racers, and the rest of the family headed to Toy Story Mania. We were able to enjoy both rides without super long lines. Cars Land was super cute and fun too! Wanting to get the stress out of the way, we camped out for World of Color that night and it was AMAZING. Also, my 6-year-old niece went on her first roller coaster...California Screamin'! She is one brave little girl.

Day 3 was spent back in Disneyland, mostly just catching up on rides that were missed the previous day. We split up a lot more that day and worked around rides the babies could go on, and ones we needed to trade off.  Also, Marlene got to meet Mickey that day! It was so fun. 

Day 4 we hopped back and forth between the parks a lot. First we got passes for Radiator Springs Racers again, because its awesome, and then hit all the big rides one more time. Nathan finally went on his first roller coaster (one Evie had already ridden like 3 times) and we had a family dinner at Flo's. We finished the night off with one last ride on the carousel, Marlene's favorite, and then left the park for good! 

Last week was sure exhausting, but only because we had SO much fun. It was great seeing my whole family together and spending time at such a fun place.