HERRINGS

Tom Sawyer

2009-11-18T08:08:00.007-07:00

Jason did a production of Tom Sawyer this fall. It was designed to help kids develop an interest in classic literature and it was really fun. They performed at the Orem library, took it to several local schools and spent a weekend performing in Park City. Everyone in the cast did a great job!! They had 6 or so performances at the Orem library and we went to most of them :-) It was really fun to be in a close setting and have the action happening all around us.
In the part where Tom gets the town kids to white wash the fence for him they had kids from the audience go up and give Tom their trinkets, then take a turn "white washing". Kevin and Scott got to go up on nights I had my camera but Sarah also had a turn on another night.

Jason played Huckleberry Finn. He has been growing out his hair with this part as his excuse for months :-)
The cast was just 5 people so they each played a couple of rolls. Along with Huck Finn Jason was also Judge Thatcher.
The young lady that played Becky Thatcher was really cute. Collette loved her even wanted her hair in braids when we went to the show so they would match.
It was a really well done and fun production and we enjoyed it each time we saw it!

Ice Skating

2009-11-18T07:52:00.003-07:00

We singed Kevin and Sarah up for Ice Skating classes this fall. Both of them had been skating at the Peak Arena for different events and really enjoyed skating, so we thought it would be a fun adventure. They had a really great time learning how to not kill themselves on the ice :-) They had weekly lessons that the little kids and I watched and Collette became very interested in trying it out for herself. We asked grandma to hang out with Clark one day and I took the oldest 3 to the open skate for the afternoon. We had so much fun! I had not been skating since I was about 12 and I was terrible then, so I was nervous. Kevin and Sarah were great about showing Collette and I the different ways to get around, how to stop and all the fun things they had learned in their lessons. We really enjoyed ourselves on the ice and Coco did great! Kevin, Sarah and Collette are all singed up again for lessons after the holidays and they can't wait!

Cornbelly's

2009-10-15T13:38:00.007-06:00

The October outing for Utah Virtual Academy was at Cornbelly's. We had soooo much fun. I knew I would not be a nice person if I took my 4 and Scott and Jessica alone ~ Yeah for grandparents!!!!!
I asked my parents if they would like to come with us and they are so awesome that they did. There were so many fun things to do and we (or some portion of us) did them all!

General Conference

2009-10-01T15:05:00.002-06:00

I love General Conference for lots of reasons! One of the many things I like to do is put together a packet of activities for my kids to help them (and me) focus and get more out of the sessions. I found some really great activity packets and wanted to share them with you ~ ENJOY!

LDS Resources Activity Packet

Sugardoodle Conference Cards

Meridian Magazine Conference Notebook

GOOD EATS!!

2009-09-29T18:29:00.004-06:00

I am by NO MEANS a fine foods connoisseur. I am picky and a vegetarian and cheep and very under exposed to fine foods. That all said I have to talk about my 2 FAVORITE restaurants on the planet. PIZZERIA 712 and COMMUNAL our friend and neighbor Joseph McRae owns both these awesome places.

PIZZERIA 712 is wonderful and has been my favorite for the almost 2 years it has been open. The food is wonderful. Awesome, authentic style pizza, with a variety of classy, yummy toppings, REAL panini sandwiches and mouth watering deserts just to start the list. Everything is made from scratch, lots of local products (fruits, veggies, dairy, etc), and all cooked in a wood fired oven. PIZZERIA 712 is THE place I want to go to eat for any and every special occasion, even the occasions I create :-) I love the up scale but NOT stuck up feel of the place and ALL the people are so wonderful.

NOW these same awesome, talented, visionary people have opened a second place COMMUNAL.
Mom, Julie and I were SOOOO excited to go there after the women's broadcast on sat. We LOVED it!!!!!!!!!! It is all "family style" dinning (that means you order things to share). The food was all WONDERFUL! I loved that I could order just what I wanted and not have to say "could you make that with out____" or "please do not add ___" :-) The food options are familiar, comfortable things but done in a delicious and classy way. We all loved every item we ordered! The feel of COMMUNAL is great to. Very comfortable and nice. Oh and as someone who ALWAYS is FREEZING in restaurants and hates that ~ It was so nice to feel comfortable climate wise.
These are THE BEST restaurants ANYPLACE!! Ok I know I am totally biased but I really do LOVE eating at both of them.

SUMMER 2009

2009-09-25T16:51:00.011-06:00

I think I have blogged the "big" things that happened over the summer so I am going to round it out with a general hodgepodge.

Fun in the SPRINKLER!!

Foot Family Reunion

Kevin's FIRST temple trip!
Kevin turned 12 and immediately got his temple recommend so he could go do baptisms for the dead in the Provo temple. He got to go on a morning that his Grandpa Jensen was working in the baptistery and that was really special.

24th of JULY ~ Pioneer Day
Every year we go the pioneer celebration in the park that is run by the Provo missionaries. There are tons of games, food, booths, an old pioneer village and the museum. We all look forward to it.

Nate's Sleepover
Our good friends David and Rachel welcomed a beautiful baby girl to their family this summer. On the day of her birth we got to have her big brother Nate come over. He was SO good and we had lots of fun.

ARTIE
Jason and Anne decided to make a movie this summer. We got to be extras and had lots of fun playing in the park while they worked :-)

Father Son Camp out
We drove home from Veges Friday morning, unloaded quickly and Kevin and Kevin headed up into the hills for a camp out with the men in our ward.

Las Veges

2009-09-25T10:59:00.007-06:00

My parents own RIVER WALK MEDIA. We record conventions, edit, duplicate and sell the recordings. Our biggest convention every year is Nature Sunshine Products. Over the 25 years that our family has been recording these conventions we have been able to travel a lot! There is no denying that these are WORKING vacations but I have to admit they have been a highlight in my year for a VERY long time. I have had the chance to go to Washington D.C. (twice) ~ Nashville, TN (twice) ~ Philadelphia, PA ~ Acapulco, Mex ~ Hawaii ~ New Orleans, LA ~ Florida (several cities) ~ California (several cities) ~ San Antonio, TX ~ and more! Going to these conventions at times seems like going to a family reunion. I get to see and visit with people who I have known since I was 12yrs old. They have watched me grow up, get married, and now see my children growing. This convention has had a HUGE impact on my life. My families involvement with natural health, my first "real" job, moving to Indiana (where I met Kevin), the choices I have made about child birth and my childrens health, etc. Convention week is also a time when I get to step into a different roll then my everyday life. I get to be a working professional. I get to dress up (& it stays nice), interact with adults, be the "expert" and over all feel very grown up :-)
This year NSP convention was in Las Veges, NV. The combination of a driveable location and our new schooling lead us to take they whole family. We got to stay in the Paris hotel (thanks Daddy). It was a bit of an adventure to have 6 people in one hotel room but really we had so much fun! This year also marked a milestone for Kevin Lee. Grandpa asked Kevin to help do some of the recording this year. He did SO GREAT! He was super responsible and very reliable. It was a little surreal to see him at 12 doing the same thing I remember doing at that age and that has been such a huge part of my life. Sarah also helped at the sales booth and was huge in helping with the littler kids!!

When I was working Kevin took the kids exploring.
They also went swimming everyday!
In the evenings when I was free we set out again and got to see a little of "the strip" in full swing.

The water show at the Bilagio. The Paris is right across the street and we could hear the water crashing down during the shows.

We went to Cesar's Palace. Kevin enjoyed all the statues of Greek and Roman gods, he loves that mythology. This is us standing in front of The David. Kevin thought it was very funny and Sarah was disgusted :-)
Clark is a BIG fan of motorcycles!!! He saw some every time we went out and always wanted pics. of them.

We had a great week! We had lots of fun times, and it was good on the business end of things!!

Flaming Gorge

2009-09-21T17:40:00.014-06:00

Kevin and his good friend Darrin really wanted to go on a fishing trip. We decided to all go and making it a weekend camping trip. So Herrings packed up or 4 kids and Lewis' packed up Conner and we headed to Flaming Gorge.~Coco lounging in the car with daddy's Ipod~

Conner is a Dinosaur fanatic so our plan included a stop in Vernal at the museum.
The Utah Field House of Natural History was lots of fun. There was hardly anyone there so we could really take our time, relax and let the kids explore. The kids got to do the hands on stuff, and discover all the cool exhibits.
We all thought this display was fun. They had all these rocks in a little side room. They were all tagged with there names and they had some fun coloring but then...we turned off the lights
and they glowed. It was fun :-)

Along with all the displays inside you can go out side and there is a whole big yard filled with dinosaur replicas.The museum was fun, educational and perfect timing to give us a little break from driving as we headed to our camp site.

We camped at a place called Antelope Flats. It was appropriately named since there were antelope strolling along the edges of the camp site. We were close enough to the lake to walk but far enough away that we did not have to be on high alert about the kids.So after our first beautiful night it was time to FISH. Well Kevin, Darrin, Kevin Lee and Sarah went fishing. Joy, Nikki, Conner, Collette and Clark all head out to do a little shopping (purely to keep the little kids out the mens way of course). When we got back to camp we found some board kids and some bummed dads ~ NO FISH :-( We had lunch and then split up. Lewis' went for a drive and Herrings head back out to the water.
The little kids were very excited to get their chance to fish.

Clark found the universal "boys favorite toy" ~ A STICK!! ~ He called it his fishing poll and carried it around all weekend. He had endless fun playing with it and "catching fish". No one wanted tell him it was moss so we just cheered and clapped for him :-)
We had lots of fun playing in the water and once again headed back to camp.
And no matter how cute they all looked with the fishing gear still ~NO FISH.
We had another great evening. Darrin cooked a FABULOUS dutch oven meal for us. Chicken, biscuits and peach cobbler all in dutch ovens. The next morning there was a final attempt to turn this camping trip back into the fishing trip it was meant to be.They tried hard, lost lots of fishing hooks, floats, etc. but in conclusion.... NO FISH WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS TRIP..... not a single one.

We stopped for a tour of flaming gorge dam as we head back across it. It looked like it would be fun but mother nature decided we had not had enough water so it started to rain. BIG, FAT, HARD HITTING drops that soaked everyone in seconds. The tour across the top of the dam was suppose to last about 20 min. We ran it in about 2 and then headed into and down the dam.

At the bottom of the dam we got to feed the fish. It was crazy to watch the frenzy created when the food was doped in. We had fun even if we were all wet :-)

It was a cool perspective to stand on the dam and look to one side then turn and look to the other side.

We really had a fun weekend. We did not catch any fish but we had good friends, good food, nice weather (when camping) and lots of wonderful family time together.

4th of July SNAKE VALLY STYLE

2009-09-10T16:33:00.017-06:00

To celebrate independence day the Jensen family went out to Snake Valley for the weekend. We had 19 people in all. We pitched tents at a campground in Baker and mom and dad rented a hotel room at the same place. Aunt Pam and uncle Steve came up from CA and met us there. We had SOOOO much fun.We went to Eskdale for the Independence day celebration and a high school reunion. With a high school that small there is just a one big reunion every 10yrs for everyone that has ever gone there. It was so fun to see old friends and be able to show my kids where I had so many good memories. Eskdale always has a great fireworks display and even though it was windy it was lots of fun.

We took a tour of the Lehman caves. Our group was big enough that we no one else was with us (not that anyone would have wanted to with 9 kids 12 and under). It also worked out that our tour guide was one of Julie's best friends from high school.
We also went to the warm springs. This warm spring truly springs up in the middle of the desert. It is so lush and green right around it. There is also a cave that you can swim into.

I put my camera inside a plastic bag so it would not get splashed but did not help the picture much:-)
Joe has a water proof camera so they got some great shots inside the cave!!
I drove the kids up to one of the salt flats and tried to explain how much fun we use to have having bonfires up there. They thought I was silly but they had fun hunting for lizards.
We had a blast spending the weekend in the same valley that the Jensen family lived for 15+ years.
We had no problems even though it did rain while we were camping and with that many people and little kids that is really saying something :-)

But just so the universe could stay happy when we were almost home Colby's had tire problems. The tread pealed right off and did some nasty damage to their car. Normally this could have been pretty bad but we had all just been where it was dirt roads, no shops and no tire stores so we counted our blessings that it waited till we were back into civilization :-)
We had tons of fun on our very full Independence Day weekend. God has and does still, bless America and all those who are blessed to live in this land!!!!

Sarah ~ Our Star ~

2009-09-10T14:53:00.006-06:00

This summer Sarah had the opportunity to be in an independent film. She was cast a s a little girl who gets kidnapped and killed, positive I know. The film makers were all really great about making her fell comfortable and not scared. She never had to do anything that would have been scary :-) I had read the whole script and knew the end result but had not yet decided how much to tell her. One of her scenes was of her outside drawing with sidewalk chalk, she is approached by a stranger and goes with him. When I told Sarah what she would be doing her response was "I am dumb I could get killed!" I felt a moment of parental satisfaction and then decided to use the situation to drive home the point. I told her that is exactly what happened.
We drove to Toelle for the filming. We shot at two locations. First was the sidewalk scene.

Second was out in the "desert" at a deserted shack. She was seen walking into the shack. It was actually kind of funny during the filming because the college kids making the film were a bunch of city kids. They all were acting so goofy walking around in the rural area. Sarah did great ignoring them and the cameras and walking in to the cow manure filled shack over and over again :-)We had a good time! There were tons of "Gum" plants around and Sarah picked some of the sticky flowers and used them as earrings :-)

Kevin Lee ~ ACTOR ~

2009-07-14T14:27:00.012-06:00

Kevin has been doing drama for several years now. Recently he has decided to try and do more, especially with film. We work with an agent and go out on auditions regularly. In June Kevin was cast in a set of three commercials for BYU Independent Study. He was the "lead" and only actor for one and a "featured extra" for another. The commercials were made by Greenlight Films! These were the NICEST people to work with! They were fun, creative, supportive, and just plain awesome!
For the first commercial the concept was this: A kid is out in a field flying a kite when a plane flies over head. The kid is inspired to build a glider and fly to new heights.
So on June 23rd, 2009 Kevin became Kite Boy. The shoot was in a wheat field in Lehi, Ut. We were on set for about 9hrs. Kevin worked SUPER hard and did great! This is just a very few of the photos from the shoot. If you want to see more you can go to this link KITE BOY.
Joy got to spend all day on set with Kevin, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen watching the other 3 kids. It was really great to watch Kevin doing something he loves and is so good at. Here are a few of the behind the scene shots I took. I told Kevin when he was famous I would sell these to the tabloids :-)
They set up a tent and lounge spot for Kevin and even provided a game boy and games for his down time. He ended up with very little time to play and lounge but he loved that he got special treatment.
This one it totally staged! The 12yr old boy thought it was really funny. I guess there is a bit of 12yr old in mommy too since I took it :-) I told him when he was a hot star this one would get me a Yacht!

About 3:00 in the afternoon Kevin started to loose energy. The Director came over to me and asked "what can we do help Kevin get excited again?" I went out into the wheat field and asked him what would be a good motivation? He got that great (evil) grin of his and said tickets to the MIDNIGHT SHOWING of Transformers 2. So being the sucker I am I said OK :-) Then I had to get on the phone to about 4 different people to try and get the tickets for Kevin and Kevin Lee. It worked out that when we got done on set Kevin took off with his uncle Joe and went rock climbing for a few hours, then called a friend (a girl) to meet them at the movies at midnight. He must have had a lot of adrenalin from being a star to have lasted through such CRAZY day!

It was a LONG, Hot, educational, GREAT day!

Commercial #2
A week later on June 30th, 2009 Kevin did the second commercial. For this one we where filming up South Fork in Provo Canyon. The idea for this one is that a kid is determined to fly and with the help of about a thousand balloons makes an old truck "fly". Kevin was one of the kids on the ground who sees this.

Kevin is a kid playing baseball when the "balloon truck" flies overhead.The kids all chase the "balloon truck" as it flies above them.

Getting to work with the other kids in this commercial was a good experience for Kevin. He was the oldest kid on the set. We both were a little surprised at the attitudes of some of the kids and I was very proud of how mature and professional Kevin behaved. They had fun with the crew and each other during another long day of filming.

The Director and Director of Photography ( the guy running the camera) for this commercial was a great guy named Devin Graham. Devin had been the Director of Photography for the Kite Boy commercial too so Kevin had become familiar with how he worked. Devin had a habit of saying "just once more" and then shooting the scene 4 to 6 more times :-) By the end of the day this had become a pretty big joke on set. At the very end Devin made a deal with the kids that "after these last 2 takes if I say "just once more" you can through my hat in the stream." The kids got a kick out of that. When it was all over Devin wanted a picture with all the kids.
But then he said "just one more" and they all attacked him ~ all in good fun!!!

This whole project was a lot of fun, very educational and Kevin's first paying gig $$$$ :-)

Devin has a clip of some of his projects including these commercials if you want to see it.
DEVIN GRAHAM

Playing Catchup!

2009-06-30T06:02:00.004-06:00

Well like every other journal I have started in my life I have fallen off the wagon with our family blog. I really do love having the blog and sharing a bit of our world with our family and friends but life happens.... So I have been playing catchup and I think I have covered the highlights. I am recommitting and will try to do a better job at splitting my computer time between blogging and Facebook which I fully admit I am addicted to.

KEVIN LEE is 12!!!

2009-06-30T05:25:00.005-06:00

On June 27th Kevin Lee Herring III turned 12 years old!!! Kevin is a wonderful young man. He is a great big brother, smart, responsible, loving, talented, faithful, funny, intense and over all he rocks!
For Kevin's birthday we had some of his friend come to the park with us and we had a Pizza and Ice Cream, all you can eat buffet. We played games, hung out and had fun and lots of food.

For the Jensen Party Kevin gave Julie a run for her money :-) When she asked him what he wanted for his cake he started with one of his favorite flippant answers "Monkeys". With the help of his uncles, father and cousins this quickly evolved into monkey brains and then became frozen monkey brains as in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the worst of the Indiana Jones movies). Well Julie took on the ridiculous idea and the results were awesome.

Not only did the monkey cake have frozen "brains" inside it was home made mint chocolate chip ice cream colored blue!
So we had LOTS of fun with Kevin as he celebrated his 12th birthday!

The day after his birthday he graduated from primary! When the bishop had him go up on the stand I was a little misty eyed to think that he was so grown up. Kevin also had the chance to meet with our bishop and was presented to the ward as a young man worthy to receive the priesthood and become a Deacon. Then I went from misty eyed to dripping! We are SO incredibly proud of the young man Kevin Lee is becoming and we are grateful he is choosing to follow the Lord. Kevin was ordained to the Arronic Priesthood by his father with his grandfather and uncles in the circle. We love you Kevin.

Kevin 35!

2009-06-30T05:13:00.003-06:00

On June 21st Kevin turned 35! We are so lucky to have him as our husband and father! Kevin loves us, takes care of us, provides for us, plays with us, and is wonderful!

Kevin asked Julie to make him a Transformers cake for the Jensen birthday party. She did a great job with the spliced logo of the Dicepticons and Autobots. Plus it was yummy to eat even if it did have a million holes in it from candles :-)
Kevin asked for fishing gear for his birthday and boy did the Fam. deliver! Joe got him a nice pole and open face reel. Colbys got him a tackle box and "tools". Jason and Anne got him a Disney Princess kiddy rod! and then they gave him his real gift of a tackle bok and hooks and lures. We had fun and will have many more hours of fun through out the summer!

Freedom Acedemy

2009-06-30T04:51:00.004-06:00

Our family has been a part of Freedom Academy charter school for the past 6 years. Kevin started the year they opened as a 1st grader and Sarah joined him 3 years latter. I also worked with the lunch program there for 3 years. We have had so many wonderful experiences there and made some wonderful friends.

This year the kids had a FANTASTIC music teacher named Mrs. Chock. She really helped the kids love music in a variety of ways. One of the many things she did was teach the kids dances that they presented at the end of the year.

Kevin learned the Pasadoble and really had fun with it.

Sarah learned a folk dance and did really well.

Kevin and Sarah also were a part of the track club after school and really enjoyed it. They got to have a big meet at the end of the year on the Provo High track field. They both did several events and did very well at them.

Through MUCH though, research, pondering, prayer, tears and heavenly guidance we have decided to go another rout with schooling. We will miss many people from our time at Freedom Academy. We are excited for our new adventures and are SO grateful for a Father in Heaven who cares so much and really will help with every decision in our lives.

JIVE DANCE

2009-06-30T04:14:00.005-06:00

Both Sarah Collette take dance at Jive ~ A Dancer Place. Every year Jive has a huge concert. The girls have a full dress rehearsal on Thur. then 2 shows on Fri. and 3 shows on Sat. !!! It is an insane weekend in a really good way!

This was Sarah's 7th concert with Jive so she is an old hat at it she has become a very good dance and really has fun with it!

This was Collette's 2nd concert. She was one of the "older" dancers in her class. She LIVES for the concerts. She LOVES the hours of hair, make up, costumes, etc. When she gets on stage ALL her attitude comes out and really finds its moment to shine.

In case the weekend was not crazy enough it was also a womens retreat for our ward, Kevin and Sarah both had acting auditions and most important KEVIN AND JOY'S 12th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

SARAH TURNS 9!!!

2009-06-30T03:57:00.003-06:00

On May 3rd Sarah turned 9 years old! Sarah is amazing, loving, sweet, talented, caring, considerate, beautiful, smart, funny, and just a tinny bit blond :-)We had a house full of friends from church and school over to celebrate with us. It was all girls except one boy ~ "the only decent boy in my class"! We had lots of fun!

We also had our traditional Jensen party at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Sarah requested an ice cream and brownie cake with NO FROSTING! As always aunt Julie delivered beautifully!

Not selling myself short

2009-04-22T09:56:00.006-06:00

So Modbe is offering a cruise to it's top consultants. For the first couple weeks after it was announced I was on the fence about how I felt. Sure it would be fun but I really don't like to set myself up for failure and would hate to let myself think, dream, plan for it and then not get it. Then I thought THAT IS A REALLY BAD ATTITUDE! I really do believe that we make our own destinies SO..... KEVIN AND JOY ARE GOING ON A CRUISE! I am going to do all I can and earn this. The more I thought about it the more excited I became. We always have had kids with us if we went someplace and that is great, we love being with our kids but....

So IF you have been eyeing a new Modbe swimsuit or a pair of Jeans or anything else NOW would be a great time to call me and we will put a party together! You get FREE stuff and I will know I have truly done my all and be content with the outcome :)

www.AJMODBE.com

EASTER

2009-04-14T18:24:00.006-06:00

Every year for Easter we split the fun into 2 great days. We have Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday. On Easter Saturday we all get together, color Easter eggs (a lot of them), fill plastic eggs with candy (even more of them) and have a huge, crazy, Easter egg hunt. This year because it was wet, cold and yucky outside we split the hunt into little kids and big kids and had it in grandpa and grandmas living room. There were 9 kids under 12 and then Joe and Amber too :)

We had fun with our egg creations and we all ate WAY too much candy

Then on Easter Sunday I break out the new Easter outfits. I am pretty laid back about letting people choose their own clothing, etc. EXCEPT on Easter :) I get to choose and every one gets to smile and be nice. I also get to take as many pictures as I want and they can not say a thing. At this point in history everyone has this routine down quite nicely and I am a happy mommy overall.

Take me out to the ball game!

2009-04-14T18:10:00.003-06:00

We were given tickets to the Bees baseball game through Kevin's work. It was chilly and a bit windy but the kids were excited to go.

Hooray for Cotton Candy!

We had fun even though some of the people around us pushed the boundary for heckling into rude and obnoxious.

When Clark hears "Smile" this is what you get :)

Crazy Utah Weather

2009-03-29T14:34:00.004-06:00

So I feel the need to document how crazy the weather in Utah is. I love living in a place of such beautiful diversity; mountains, deserts, lakes, glaciers, sand dunes, cliffs, rivers and so much more....... BUT this weather is a bit much for me.

SATURDAY March 28th!

SUNDAY March 29th!

REALLY ?!?!?!

GENERAL CONFERENCE

2009-03-25T10:26:00.010-06:00

General Conference is coming! I am excited for so many reasons! I feel a lot like I do at new years when General Conference comes. It is a time to pause and take stock, to tweak the things that I need to do better, to set new goals, to remember why I believe, worship, love & obey the way I do. It also means SPRING! When I was growing up we would work in our garden while listening to the Saturday session of conference. We (by we I mean Dad & Mom) would plant peas, among other garden work, and I LOVE fresh, garden peas. I also have great memories of the variety of ways my parents would try to help us listen (we did not have TV reception in either of the homes I grew up in). We made bingo boards with words on them and marked them with pennies as the word was said, at the beginning of a talk we would choose a word we thought would be used often in the talk and then make tally marks each time it was said, we would make dot - dot games with dad and try to look like we were listening while really trying to guess dad's next move. So for me General Conference means faith, family, new beginnings, and much more!

As I look forward to Conference with my own family I am grateful for SOOOO many resources available to help us. One of the things I use every year is a Conference packet created by a very talented sister. She shares it with the world on her blog, just click on the link below and you can print it out to use with your family, primary, what ever. enJOY! http://coloroftheskyinmyworld.blogspot.com/

Another great place to get activities and ides for Conference (and every other church thing) is http://theideadoor.com/

And there are many, many more.

The point is to make this time special, help us all remember what is important and to build strong testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven.

Snow Day

2009-03-20T09:57:00.003-06:00

You are never to old to play in the SNOW! I love living Utah and having the beautiful mix of sun and snow. Anne Marie has fallen in love with snowboarding this year and decided we needed to make a "mommies day off" of it. I have been boarding twice before, once about 7 years ago and once about 3 years ago, so even though I was up for it in theory, I was a little nervous too. So about noon we left all six kids with Jason (THANK YOU!) and headed up to Sundance. We met up with Joe and Amber who had been there all morning and hit the slopes. Joe gave me a quick refresher course and it was all down hill from there but in a good way :-) I discovered that I remembered the feel of it very quickly and just had fun. The weather was beautiful!! It was 65 and sunny. We did not wear coats at all and even had to take off our sweat shirts. Anne and I just had fun and really enjoyed being together and doing something so fun. I really am grateful for the people in my life and the experiences I get to enJOY!

Brain Waves

2009-03-13T14:24:00.003-06:00

Kevin and Sarah had the opportunity to be a part of a study at BYU. They were collecting data on childhood brain development and offered $10.00 to each participant. The kids thought it sounded great so we signed up. They had to start by filling out about 4 pages of questions about how they view themselves, their responses to different situations, etc. Mommy also had to answer several pages of questions. Kevin went first, they went into a little room with a computer screen and a key pad with only 4 keys. They told him what each key was and explained that questions would come up on the screen and he was to answer them correctly as quickly as he could. Then they fun part. They put a "net" of over 100 monitors, that were sopping wet, onto his head. The monitors were hooked to another computer that showed his brain waves as he responded to the questions. Then they shut the door and he was left in a little room to complete the test. We could all watch him on the monitors in the other room. He said after a bit he felt like he was in an interrogation room. The BYU students conducting the test showed us his brain wave patterns as he answered the questions. It was pretty cool that from a bunch of wavy lines they could learn so much.
Then it was Sarah's turn. When they put the net on her they had to add so much extra water that she had salt water dripping in her face for the whole test. It was quite an adventure for both kids but they were both very pleased to get a crisp, new $10.00 bill at the end and I have great photos to remember the whole thing.

CLARK IS 2!!

2009-02-20T09:11:00.004-07:00

Our little baby is now 2 years old! Clark is a great kid. He loves to laugh and play. He loves to cuddle. He is not always very soft with others. Clark loves balls, playing outside, Batman, animals (especially dogs), any kind of "sword", stuffed animals, dressing up (shoes are his favorite), brushing his teeth, and did I mention Batman. He loves his older siblings and always wants to play with them. He loves his aunt Anne and anything from her has extra value. Clark loves to go out and do anything and everything. He talks a lot and can almost always get his message across. He love going to nursery on Sunday, his teachers love him and say he is SOOO good in class. Clark likes to put nice clothes and do his hair and be told he his handsome. We love our little Clark and are so grateful to have him in our family!

Aunt Julie did a perfect job on Clark's cake. It was the perfect combination of two of his favorite things and he REALLY liked it!

We had so much fun celebrating Clark's birthday with our family at Grandpa and Grandma Jensen's. It was great to watch as he really understood what presents were, that he got to open them, that inside were things for him. Clark is a wonderful little man and we love him.

Collette is 4!

2009-02-08T13:24:00.005-07:00

Collette turned 4 on Feb. 5th. She has been planing her cake with aunt Julie for months now and was very excited to see it. Julie did a great job and Collette LOVED it.

Collette is all princess, in so many ways. She loves to dress up, do her hair, paint her nails, and in general look beautiful. Collette also believes that she should be in charge of every one and that they should all do her bidding. She is very helpful and is happy to do things for others. She loves her brothers and sister and often tells them "you are my best friend". Collette loves her cousins and is always excited to spend time with them. She is very determined and when she sets her mind to something it is hard to change it. She love to dance and sing. Collette loves to watch movies and can tell you details you would not expect from a 4 year old. She is and always will be my baby with the beautiful hair and we all love her very much!

Kelly's Kreations

2009-01-21T08:59:00.004-07:00

A friend of mine has a new site featuring her BEAUTIFUL jewelry and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Kelly's Kreations Are so wonderful, very classy and high quality. They are great gifts for every occasion or for that matter why wait for an occasion :) Take a look and see all the great stuff she has.

Christmas

2009-01-03T15:17:00.010-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas!

Opening gifts was so fun. Clark really understood this year and was so cute to watch !Collette is all princess and she felt very royal with a new dress up dress, shoes, crown & jewelry!Sarah added to her LARGE collection of porcelain dolls.

Kevin loves to play football with the guys at school and daddy found him this new ball. It was a good thing the BYU vs UTAH game was a bit ago he is so "BLUE" that he would not even wear red after that.

In the afternoon we all went over to Jensen's again and had tons of fun playing together and just hanging out.

Colbys brought their new Wii and every one played (when they could get the daddies to share).

Clark and Ben even got in on the electronics and shared some tunes on the Ipod.

Grandma is always there when a sleepy head needs to cuddle, and to take care of every ones needs and wants.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-03T14:46:00.008-07:00

Christmas Eve we all got together at Grandpa and Grandma Jensen's house. Grandpa read about the birth of Christ from Luke, we also read a story about Grandpa Kaye when he was in WWII and he sought to keep the spirit with him (thanks Ami). Then some people shared their testimonies of the savior and his gospel. It was a special evening. Grandma made PJ's for the grand kids and they all got to open them and put them on. They all looked really cute!

We have a great family and feel very blessed to have so many close to us and a part our daily lives.

Getting 9 kids to all look the same place is NOT easy!

Getting Ready

2008-12-24T16:32:00.006-07:00

We have had a wonderful time with all the pre-Christmas fun. Kevin spent a Sat. putting up lights on our house and bushes. For some one who "enjoys" heights as much as Kevin this was a really event. Not only did he climb up on our home he also helped a neighbor do his also.

We put up our Christmas tree and all the kids help decorate (and undecorate - Clark). We even made some popcorn strings but Sarah was the only one with enough patience to finish hers.

In years past we have hung our stockings on our banister but we now have too many to fit there. Joy made a new stocking hanger and new stockings for our family.
We have loved all the fun reminders of the fun that we share this time of year. We are very blessed to have a warm home, food to fill us, healthy bodies, wonderful friends and family and the cornerstone to all that - a loving Heavenly Father and the gospel of his only begotten son Jesus Christ.

SNOW DAY!

2008-12-24T16:22:00.004-07:00

We had to wait a long time but we finally got our first real snow. Collette and Clark were so excited to play in the snow. Collette has been waiting since it first started getting cold to build a snow man "with a carrot nose". So we plays and had tons of fun on a beautiful sunny morning in the snow!

Keeping Busy

2008-12-09T12:54:00.009-07:00

Our family has been keeping busy with all the fun of this season! We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with our Jensen family whom we love and feel very grateful for. Joy also worked an expo with MODBE the Fri. and Sat. after Thanksgiving.

One of the other projects that have kept us busy is our new play room! Joy decided to turn our under the stairs pantry/storage into a play room for the kids. The goal was to have a place for the toys NOT in the living room and to spend $0.00. We have admitted that we are pack rats so... if we have to save everything "in case I need it someday" it was time to put some of that stuff to good use.

First I had to empty out the space. With some rearranging in the kitchen and garage it was a blank canvas-

So I used some old white paint that the we had and I put a tick coat of primer on all the walls and the floor-Then I painted "Magnetic" paint (gift from Grandma, THANKS MOMMY!) on one wall to make a giant magnet board for the kids-

On the other wall I used the bright green from the girls room for the wall and form left over dark green spray paint for the shelving brackets. Kevin made the whole space come alive by painting the tree, flowers, plants and butterflies (Coco's favorite).

I used left over blue from the boys room and painted the magnet wall. I also mixed in some of the white to make a lighter blue for the "sky". We already had the magnet sets and I used some vinyl to frame the magnetic board and make the Tic-Tac-Toe board-The floor is coverd with bound carpet samples that I had picked up years ago. They work great and make it possible to to still access the crawl space under the house. I used the vinyl letters again and made "clouds" with inspirational words. It was LOTS of work but we all love the end result. The kids have there own space, I have NO toys in the living room and everyone know what it means when I say "put the toys away".

So in the end both goals were met and every one is VERY HAPPY!

2008-11-01T23:17:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun for Halloween! We all love to carve pumpkins but in years past it has ended up being a very long process with 4 little kids :) This year was a lot of fun. Kevin and Sarah were able and willing (always a great combo) to clean and carve their own pumpkins. With the older kids leading the way Collette and Clark really got into it all and we had a great time. Kevin love to use carving patterns and every year has a new collection. The kids each choose the design they wanted and we all set to work.

Kevin Lee chose to do a dragon that he needed some help with but between Dad and Kevin Lee it really turned out great!

Sarah chose Minnie Mouse. She did ALL the carving herself and was very proud of how it turned out!

Collete loved that Daddy had found some Disney princess patterns and chose Cinderella. Daddy did all the carving but Collette did a great job supervising.

Clark got an original design by Mommy. He was very excited when we lit the candle and the face lit up. When we told him it was time to blow out the candle and go to bed he blew it out and then gave his Jack -O- Lantern a kiss good night. It was really darling.

And Kevin did a very intricate Wolf. He took his to work and even won a prize for his carving skills.

We also did some carving with our Colby and Jensen cousins at Michael and Karen's house. We had fun decorating some small pumpkins Joe provided, they were left over decorations from the Singles ward party. THANKS UNCLE JOE!

So in the end we had quite a pumpkin collection and lots of fun to remember!

Dressing up is the number one favorite part of Halloween for the Herring kids. They all had great costumes and really had fun with who they were for the day.

Kevin - Caveman Sarah - Cavegirl

Collette - Swan Princess Clark - Dinosaur

AKA Candyasaurus

2008-10-24T09:42:00.000-06:00

One of our current events is "The Music Man". Kevin, Sarah and Joys mom, Karen are performing with Center Street Musical Theater. The show runs Fri. Sat. and Mon. until Nov.15th. The kids are having a great time and are learning a lot with this new theater experience. Karen has reprised her roll as Widow Paroo and is wonderful as she is in every thing she does.

The rest of us keep busy with all the fun of fall and the crazy life of a family with four kids.

2008-10-23T23:36:00.000-06:00

2008-10-23T22:53:00.000-06:00

So I thought I would give this a try. I don't do a great job keeping everyone in our life up to date with all we do so this is my sincer atempt at letters, cards, scrapbooking and journaling all rolled into one.