4th of July SNAKE VALLY STYLE

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 ~

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 ~

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!

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!!!

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.