June 2025

 Starting the first weekday in June, Evan began his new summer job - building Mark Simonich's house on North Forty. He worked Monday and Tuesday, then, much to Mark's chagrin, took Wednesday off to go to Blackfoot with Hannah. We left at 7 in the morning and launched as soon as we arrived. We fished the far edge without any success, then tried to buzz over by the far boat ramp when we started noticing something funky with the big motor. Evan couldn't figure out what was going on, so we turned back around and let the trolling motor take us to the boat ramp (loading was interesting without a big motor!). We ended up eating lunch by the sandbox and heading home afterwards. We stopped at Star Valley Ski-doo in Thayne for some advice, and the mechanic told Evan he thought it was a pump. We made an appointment to bring it back, but were able to avoid doing that because installing a new pump was all it took to repair the motor - thankfully! We were home by 2:15, and Evan went out to bid insulation jobs from 5:30-8.

The next day (5th), Evan and Shane headed over to Idaho again to explore a bunch of little lakes Evan keeps hearing about. They were gone from 5 am to 4 pm and had a good time figuring out the area and catching a bunch of small to medium bass. The next day, Evan helped out at CRM for the day while the kids and I enjoyed a lovely summer day. Evan worked most of the day on Saturday, insulating an attic then going to Mark's for a few hours. The kids and I ended up taking a picnic to the park in Grover then taking a four-wheeler ride up to the pond at Grover Park where we spied a moose eating across from the fishing bank. That Sunday was Cassie's blessing, after which we hit the road, headed to the Gorge.

Our first trip to the Gorge for the summer was fun and uneventful. We camped just off the hill from the boat ramp campground at Anvil, and went in search of something to bite! Fishing was slow, but the kids did great on the boat and loved checking their crawdad traps anytime we'd let them. We found a little bass bed over in one of the bays, and Evan spent the better part of an hour trying to get a big daddy hooked on without any luck. Meanwhile, the boys had "bites" left and right, and Renee tried to be content. When we got home from the lake, we had a crawdad boil, which is a huge favorite around here!

The next day (11th), Evan insulated from 5:30 am until 11:30 am, and we left for SLC once he was home, showered and everything/one was loaded up. We checked into our Airbnb then spent the evening at JoAnn's house with others who had already arrived for the weekend festivities. Hannah stayed at the Airbnb with us as well - at least for a few nights. On Thursday morning, Evan left early with Hannah to head down to American Fork and attend Casper and Nyah's wedding ceremony. After the kids ate and played in the hot tub, we got everyone ready and loaded in the van then drove down to Highland to see my aunt Charlotte. 

Hannah dropped Evan off at Charlotte's once the wedding was over, and we visited a little longer before leaving to head to the wedding luncheon. We ate at a Mexican restaurant where Matt and Laurie had a beautiful program all about building a house of love together. It was fun to be there for that. Afterwards, we ended up taking the kids to the aquarium in Draper. They loved it, and Evan and I enjoyed it as well. Highlights were walking on a suspended rope bridge, seeing a real Komodo Dragon, touching sea urchins and sting rays, and watching the sharks swim in the giant tank. We ate dinner at JoAnn's with many more family members than the night before, and put some water tables together to little ones. We ended the night at Casper's reception, where we had a little ice cream and the kids played on the playground at the park setting. It felt good to get to bedtime!

The next day, the Jensen Family Reunion got its true kick off with a service morning at JoAnn's house/yard. Evan and I had a few of our own errands to run, so we volunteered to make the Sam's Club and got our things done while we were out. We came back, had lunch, then packed everyone up to go to the rec center. The Rec center had a huge pool that was absolutely crawling with people, but the Jensen crew found a spot to make camp and made room for themselves in the pool area. Renee had fun splashing around, and Thomas enjoyed going down the slides. James wasn't big enough to go on the slides, but put on a smile and swam around with mom, dad, grandma, and Hannah instead. After that was dinner at JoAnn's, lots of playing in the water/bounce houses for the kids while moms and dad (cousins, siblings, etc) chatted, and then home to bed. Justin and Tessa showed up that evening sometime after we went to bed, so Hannah moved out and they moved in.

On Saturday, everyone had a quick breakfast at JoAnn's, then met up at the zoo. We went through the zoo with Justin, Tessa, and their kids for the first part and then cruised through on our own after that. We met up with everyone at the carousel, where we took a photo with the whole family. After the zoo, we went back to JoAnn's for a picnic-type lunch, then played/hung out in the backyard for the afternoon. Dinner was leftovers from the wedding luncheon with the addition of some Salsa de Franco (yum!). That evening, there was a little tribute-type program followed by a portrait activity. For the portraits, we paired with someone that we interviewed, then painted a picture of them. Tessa and I painted each other, Thomas and BethAnn painted each other, Nate painted Evan, and Ethan painted James (long story short, James had been giving the recently graduated crew some pretty good grief, as they egged him on, and Ethan had a heck of a good time being fun with his painting of James). We said our goodbyes and headed back to the Airbnb shortly after the activity/program.

On Father's Day, we woke up, packed up, ate the rest of the ice cream bars Evan bought for the Airbnb for breakfast, and hit the road - Bullinger's or bust! We got there early to mid afternoon, and got back to visiting. A fairly routine visit with a bbq Monday evening, then we hit the road again, this time heading for home. We didn't arrive home until 7:15, and were glad to be back!

We didn't stop moving once we got home. Evan was up and back to his insulating, this time at Mark's, by 7:30 the next morning until 8 that evening. The kids and I ended up hanging out with Hannah (and Morgan at the end) who set up the water bounce house from the reunion for the kids to play in. Porter (Amanda and Neil's youngest) came home from Utah with BethAnn, so the boys had fun playing with him. They were pretty chilly in the hose water at BethAnn's, and probably spent more time on the swing.

The 19th was another big day of insulating for Evan, this time at Mitchell's, who was gone from 8 am to 9 pm. The kids all had their well-child appointments that same morning, then played at Tessa's for a few hours after that, while Renee had a morning nap. Friday, more insulating (7-noon), and the kids and I went to story time at the Civic Center with the cousins.

That Saturday, Evan spent the morning sheeting Mark's garage, then we hauled the camper up to the campground right at the top of Grover Park where we met Hannah and Ethan. We shot guns for a while, rode the motorcycles, and had a campfire. BethAnn, Justin, and Tessa (and kids) ended up coming for dinner, too. We got up the next morning, went home, got ready for, and drove up to Anson's mission farewell brunch (10:30) then talk (12). One of the Hunting twins  For dinner, we went to Justin and Tessa's for a bday party for Jenna. It was a fun, albeit cold, weekend!

The 23rd was the start of our two weeks of swimming lessons at the ranch, and I can tell it is going to be a long two weeks! Between driving to the pool through construction and trying to keep Renee from escaping to dive into the pool, it will be an adventure. Jagger Johnson has lessons at he same time as the boys, so I spent every lesson chatting with Cassie. We had the Simpson boys come play at our house one afternoon and went to Terynn's for lunch another during the first week of lessons. Friday of that first week, Thomas went to Weston's birthday party in the morning, and we all went to a water party at Tessa's with cousins that afternoon. On Saturday was the Freedom Festival. We had smoked pizza for lunch then went and played on the bounce houses before letting the boys catch fish in the scramble. They both caught one this year, so that was better than last year! Evan grilled them for the boys who didn't scarf them as well as they usually eat fish, since they still had their eyes! That Sunday, I spoke in sacrament meeting and we went to BethAnn's for a Chinese dinner. And that ended the busy month of June!