Friday, July 18, 2008

FAMILY CREST FOR REUNION

I wanted to see if the family would be interested in creating a crest for the family. We could print it on tshirts for the reunion, or use it for other purposes.

We would need to come up with what it would say, and what images we want to put on it. Attached is an example of what the artist can do. Note: it would cost about $150-180 to get it done.

I suggest we take important sayings or slogan from our family history to have as a banner around the shield. Maybe put the slogan in Danish or something. Then, think of a image or two to represent the family. I don't know. Just a thought.



-david

p.s. please excuse the image of the gun.

Friday, July 11, 2008

FAMILY REUNION: Jody's Important Update!

Howdy FAMILY!!!! There has been a slight change of plans. The Lutheran facility has fallen through (I can give details later), but I have something just as good!


St. Christopher's on John's Island is the place to be! The website is www.stchristopher.org. This facility is about 50 minutes from Charleston. Please go and check out all the pics of the facility because I need to know by Sunday evening how many are still in (please list kids and their ages - it makes a difference in price) so that I can reserve our spot Monday morning!

The following is all the info. you should need to make a decision:

DATES - July 19 - 22 (same dates as before)
June 18th - 21 (14 rooms available)
**Please include in your response if it matters which date we book.

LODGING
- Four adults (12 and older) = $79 a night
- Two adults and two kids (under 12) = $69 a night
* We are allowed to use sleeping bags in rooms for little ones FREE OF CHARGE. So, consider this when sending your list of who will be coming and include if a sleeping bag or two is okay. I figure we will not be in the rooms much anyway!


FOOD
There is a sep. dining hall for this staying in the lodge buildings, but we will be eating with others staying at the lodge.

We can rent a conference room for $50/day (they will cut us deal for booking many rooms once we book) that has a fridge, ice box, and ice. This is where we will eat cold cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and keep snacks. The Ross Jensen's will be sure to keep things stocked by making grocery runs if needed. We will work out food cost later for breakfast and lunch. We will eat dinner in the cafeteria at 6:30 each night. It is served buffet style (eat as much as you like) and there is always, drinks, full salad bar, and dessert served with every meal. The cost is as follows:

Under 4= free
4-11 = $4 a day
12 - up = $15 day

ACTIVITIES

BEACH
Tennis
Basketball (as long as summer campers are not using it - she said it is usually available)
Beach Volleyball (Ross Jensen's will set this up, but it is okay)
Board Games
Nature Trails
Camp fire area (they provide wood)

I hope y'all are still excited about coming SOUTH! Please let me know all your info by SUNDAY EVENING so that I can take care of the reservation.

Love,
Jody

DAVID JENSEN JULY LETTER

Hi, It's David P. Jensen.

-It has been quite some time since I have written. I apologize. I read yours if it counts for anything. I'm not much of a letter writer these days. Family may not know my situation.

-Annelise, my wife is going to school full time and working. She's attending ASU for her Photography/Arts degree. She's 2 semesters away from graduation. She has taken some really great photos! She also just made some totally cool purse at some sewing class.

-I am thinking of going to Mesa Community College. For income I work for some sandwich shop as a delivery dude during lunch time. I kinda love it actually. It gives me time for music & sports and pays pretty well. I still print shirts from time to time as well, and make a little bit of money on iTunes. (those little downloads add up!)

-Things are going well. We're relatively happy and healthy. We've got love for one another. We don't have any kids. Leave us alone about that, please.

-The Arizona professional sports situation is quite frustrating. (Exemplified by Shaq's expression.) It's tough being a sports fan here, although my joy from the 2001 World Series still has not worn out. I work out those frustrations by pretending I'm a professional during one of my soccer, softball, football, and/or basketball leagues. I'm pretty ok at all those sports, nothing great.

-My new band is Art For Starters. www.myspace.com/artforstarters My previous band, Before Braille dissolved due to personality disorders and drug abuse. (I had no problem with the latter, but I'm sure I'm guilty of difficult personality quirks, no doubt.) It was pretty frustrating to see return missionaries/my friends/my band go south. I'm in the middle of completing our final 2 albums on my own.

-I've been really interested in politics and the election season. Our country is a disaster because everyone feels they are entitled to something. That's my main frustration these days. We keep paying money to people who won't work or provide for themselves.

-I'm encouraged by the love of my wife, parents, and extended family. I recently helped Jen & Ian move from Detroit to Show Low, AZ. It was kinda fun and mostly awful. Jen is always good to me, so I was glad to do it.

-I'm made happy when people tip well, use turn signals, accept my apologies, don't talk during movies or church, give me hi-fives, and when they prepare my food with love. And I'm especially happy when I see parents disciplining their children, especially when that means they remove them from sacrament meeting.

That's all for me. Best wishes to you all. See you in '09. Thanks for those who are putting work into reunion prep.
Sorry I wrote so much. I'm a pretty fast typer.
Bye,
David (and Annelise) Jensen


Arizona Cardinals: Loveable losers if only they were loveable. Arizona Diamondbacks: young and well, good enough to make us disappointed by year end. Phoenix Suns: Unlucky underachievers, and possibly targeted by the league for some reason. Phoenix Coyotes: not good enough to make us care about hockey. ASU Sundevils: they'll never beat USC, so why does it matter? Now I'm going to go yell at the tv screen. bye.

ANNIE & HARRISON JULY LETTER

Hello Everyone,

Annie here. I know most of you are thinking,"who's Annie" so I will refresh your memory and refer to myself as Harrison's mom. I typically hate it when people refer to themselves under the identity of their child but in this case, you are probably more familiar with his life than mine since I have read about him through other family member's letters. I actually appreciate this because i feel it releases me of writing myself.

Anyway here is a quick bullet point update of me.
  • So excited that Harrison learned to ride a bike! Thanks again Spencer! Harrison never would let me help him because he says that if I ride a bike like I drive a car, we will both be dead before the lesson is learned!
  • I am currently in my second session of summer school witling away at my chemistry prerec's. and have all A's so far.......and I didn't even cheat! Organic Chem. will be a totally different story ( not with the cheating thing but with the grade part).
  • My mom keeps trying to set me up with balding, 50 yr old men in her ward, like david, I would appreciate no one mentioning the whole marriage thing! She means well!
  • I am currently working at a Physical Therapy facility that is really nice and the owners are great.
  • I recently hired a staff of a full time maid, cook, chauffer and a live in nanny who does my errands and never complains. The couple wont even let me pay them. You all know them as Paul and Terri Jensen! They are a great team and I would recommend their services to anyone who is down and out, single, poor, college student, who lies about their age!
  • Harrison just signed up for another season of football. He is actually really good and if he can catch my sloppy throws, he can catch anything! He will be in 4th grade! CRAZY
That's it for now. Excited for the family reunion.
xoxox

Annie and Harrison

ROSS JENSEN JULY LETTER

hi

i will piggy back so i can do this ok the is the Catfish form the south ok i know that you all out west think you are so goooooooooooooood but i want to tell you that come next year we will see ok the South will come again . i do hope you all are saving your $$$$ to come South so your kids can see the water if nothing eles ok so please make the time to come Jody has put a lot of time in this. it will not be as big as the last one but it will be the time and $$$$$ went worth it ok i will get off the high horse ok . it will be fun to see you all thats all i have to say about that.

the family is good and we are all growing big and strong [it is in the water ok ] do not tell ok 1 more year and i will be gone from work i hope so you all be good and may the LOrd bless and keep you all safe and sound ok LOve you all a lot see you next year Catfish

SHANNON HOWARD JULY LETTER

Only 3 weeks until school starts back! Glad, because I’m tired of siblings pestering siblings. Sad, because I don’t want to give up the laziness, I MEAN leisurely pace, of summer life. I had ambitious academic plans for the summer, such as writing an article for an English journal. But, scholarly journals don’t pay and require rewrites and often are picky about what they accept, and . . . So, instead, we’ve enjoyed swimming, and free bowling (a “DARE” summer program ) , and sleeping in, and watching stupid summer reality TV like Wipeout (which is surprisingly entertaining ) .

We have already attempted to acclimate ourselves to the Southern humidity by taking a vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia , last month. We loved learning more about Revolutionary America at the Colonial Williamsburg living museum, but, if truth be told, I think my boys enjoyed Water Country USA and Busch Gardens a bit more. We forgot that other parts of the U. S. have trees and vegetation so thick that you can’t see the other side of the highway. We also realized that water is in no short supply as we could wring it out of our clothes after spending muggy days in the sun.

We enjoyed an eventful 4th of July. Annie and Karen and cousins spent the holiday with us. We swam to cool off during the day, and after an evening Monsoon storm (that included pea-sized hail ) , we put on jackets to watch the fireworks that night. Since it was still drizzling, we watched from our balcony. Our local newspaper reported 15,000 viewers at our town park. Wonder if they all heard us singing (i.e., belting ) patriotic tunes along with the firework show? Jensen spirit is alive in Payson!

The most significant moment of our independence day: Harrison learned to ride a bike! Spencer has been teaching Nicholas to ride over the past few weeks and felt confident he could speed-teach Harrison . His aid (and cousin “peer pressure” from Nathan and Nicholas ) paid off!

We have reports from Chaperone Travis that Spencer, although unenthusiastic as he packed his camp backpack, is actually enjoying Scout camp. Our troop went to an official Boy Scout camp ( Camp Geronimo ) this year, which means better sleeping quarters and cooked meals! He is swimming, shooting guns, and hiking to earn more merit badges. It’s several degrees cooler on the Rim, and there’s a canteen that sells candy and soda pop. Doesn’t sound too bad to me!

Exciting plans for the remainder of the summer? I have jury duty (at our county courthouse 90 miles away! ) , and we all have teeth cleanings! Maybe we’ll try to attend another D-backs game if the excitement of aforementioned tasks isn’t too much for us!

Speaking of excitement: I finally used my Nutrimill wheat grinder that I ordered online 2 months ago. Yes, I ground wheat and used it to make homemade bread. I’ll leave you all to process this shocking fact . . . Jensen homemaker-hood is (sort of ) alive in Payson!

Hope you are enjoying your summer and saving your pennies (or dollars ) for the reunion next July! Go Jody!

JOSH & NATALIE JULY LETTER

Dear Family,

As Natalie and I reflected on the past month in preparation to write this letter, we decided that all we could remember was a blur of campaign events and church activities with a few fun weekend activities thrown in. Although there has been a whirlwind of activity lately, it has been a fun month and we have enjoyed all of our opportunities. We love Athens and we are making the most of the time we have together this summer.

With Natalie serving as Relief Society President and me as a counselor in the Branch Presidency, we try to make it to as many church activities as possible each week. This means that in addition to a Sunday full of meetings, we go to Family Home Evening on Mondays, institute on Tuesdays, a branch sports activity on Thursdays, and usually at least one activity on the weekends. While active church participation is a rather large time commitment, we love the members of the branch and are thankful for the opportunity to serve them. The branch has a wide variety of members-freshmen, PhD students, married couples, older singles, and many others, and each group has its own challenges, but the mix also creates the opportunity to get to know many different types of people. Although this summer has seemed to be more full of challenges than usual, Natalie and I have learned a lot in our callings and have become close friends with some of the members.

When I am not doing church activities, my time is being spent on the campaign trail where I am on the staff of our U.S. Congressman. The primary election is just 5 days away, so things are hectic. Right now we are coordinating an intense get-out-the-vote effort, a bus tour leading up to Election Day, and a major media push. I think the political bug bit Natalie and she has even gotten involved in some campaign events. She has walked in a few parades with the Congressman and he has started calling her “sugar.” Actually, I think Natalie’s motivation is that she likes being the star of the show, even if the show is the Eatonton, GA Dairy Festival and the Colbert, GA Fourth of July Parade (which, surprisingly, were each attended by approximately 15,000 people).

Natalie and I have also had time for some fun events this month too. A couple of weeks ago our city held Athfest, a weekend-long outdoor music festival to show case Athens’ vibrant music scene. We went on both Friday and Saturday and enjoyed the music and accompanying art show. For those you that don’t know, Athens is home to REM, the B-52’s, Widespread Panic, and many other famous bands from the 80’s and 90’s that keep close ties to the city. Because those artists are still involved with the local arts community, aspiring musicians from all over come here to gain experience and make connections. With so many artists close by, the festival has many participants playing all types of music.

We hope y’all are all doing well and want to thank those of you that have been sending letters. We love hearing about what people are doing and we wish we lived closer so that we could do fun summer things with you.

Love,
Josh and Natalie

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Family Reunion

I have a slot saved for our family!!!!!! The dates that are reserved are July 19th - 22nd (Sunday - Wed.). This is for 60 people, which would be the entire facility to ourselves. He is sending the contract to me to officially reserve the slot. So, I know this is not exactly what we wanted, but I hope this can work for everyone. I will need to know if this is what we want to do before I send the signed contract back to him.

Anyway......I did my best. I started calling at 8 'til 9AM just in case his clock was faster than mine. I called, got a busy signal, hung up, and called again for 20 minutes until I finally got through.

I am VERY excited and I hope everyone else will be too!

Hugs!!!

Jody