I Wouldn't Be a Mrs. if it weren't for Miss America

Three years ago this very day (give or take) I walked into Ventana apartment #320 to attend a "Miss America" party, not knowing I would find my future husband. My roommate, Courtney, was dating Tyson Page, and I had heard he had a few single roommates. One of which I had a slight interest in... that person was Daniel, of course. You see, I had seen him around town before, and I knew who he was, but we had never really talked or hung out. All I knew was he was extremely good looking :) But once he came and sat next to me and talked to me, I knew that there was a whole lot of charm to go with those good looks. We hit it off pretty well and decided to hang out soon after. Eventually he asked me out on a romantic date where he made me dinner, and we became inseparable ever since. Although it may seem like a silly reason to get together every year, we still like to have a Miss America Party because it reminds us of when we met and began to fall in love. If it weren't for the Miss America pageant, our lives might have been very different. I am thankful for Daniel, and I love to remember how we got started. Here are some pics of this years party hosted at Tyson and Courtney's house/club house!

The original four Ventana roommates: Dan, Tyson, Ben and Ben

The crew

Don Quixote and Brooke

Lost in the 50's Tonight

Grandpa and Grandma Jensen celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last night! In honor of this huge accomplishment, the Jensen family threw them a party. It was a night full of good food, laughter, dancing, and great memories. Since the theme was "lost in the 50's" Dan and I dressed up in 50's bowling attire. The gym was decorated with all things 50's. Dan mom put together awesome center pieces. There was a record in the middle of each table with old coke/orange soda bottles, jacks, and a milk shake cup full of candy that was made in the 50's. Each table also had a picture of Gpa and Gma. I loved looking at all the old photographs, I think they are so neat!

We started the night off eating BBQ ribs and chicken, baked potatoes, BBQ beans, and all kinds of salads; it was delicious! Next off everyone had the chance to give Grandpa and Grandma a toast, and we watched a neat slide show of them over the past 50 years. Sue had their wedding cake re-created with the original cake topper and bride and groom figurines. Gpa and Gma got to cut the cake again, and feed each other a few bites.

Then the real party started! We had a talent show that ended up being more of a comedy show, but they were all tributes to Grandpa and Grandma. The Jensen family has major talent! To finish off the night we had some dance instructors come and teach everyone how to swing dance. We did the twist, the bunny hop, the jive, and many more funky dance moves. You should have seen Daniel boogey. He was quite the ladies man on the dance floor. The family put together a really nice tribute/memory book for Gpa and Gma. It was made like an online scrapbook, and everyone in the family wrote down their favorite memories of Gpa and Gma. It also had lots of cool pictures and details about their wedding and life over the past 50 years together. The whole night was so much fun that Dan and I wished we had already been married 50 years so we could have such a celebration! Only 47 1/2 more to go! I hope that once I am their age people can say
the wonderful things about me that they said about Grandma Jensen.

Snow Day

Today it dumped! And as much as I hate the snow, it looked too fun to resist, so I bundled myself up, and took Yuki outside to play! I realized I am kinda short of snow gear. I don't own boots, or snow pants-but Dan's fit if I rolled the waist a few times, and I couldn't find matching gloves (well I used to before Yuki came along...she thinks she can chew on anything that she finds; hence the reason I am only wearing one glove). The difference between playing in the snow at age 22 versus when I was a kid is that the fun only lasted about ten minutes before I was ready to come in. Yuki is so funny in the snow; she will be running full speed while at the same time trying to eat as much snow on the ground as she can. If you kick the snow up at her she tries to catch it and ends up doing flips in the air. Dan was stuck shoveling for most of the afternoon, but he came and took a few cute pics for me :)

I like to move it move it, JK-Dan happened to take this picture at the exact moment I started to slip

Christmas Shenanigans '09

This Christmas was so nice, and pretty much stress free. I got all of my shopping done early, and we stuck to our budget this year! The only hard part about being done so early was that I had the hardest time waiting to actually give Dan his gifts! I was up almost all night Christmas Eve because I was so excited; I felt six years old all over again. I had prepared a little scavenger clue hunt around our house for his main gift. They were quite clever...if you ask me :) I hid the bat well, at the bottom of our linen closet behind some sheets. (thank goodness because Dan confessed he had been searching for it around the house...after he gave me the "no peeking" lecture.)

Introducing The Worth Mayhem 120 aka the green booger. I cannot count how many home runs Dan has hit with this bat. He is very excited to use it this summer! He also got a nice shirt, some shoes, racket ball supplies, softballs, and some Jordan shorts. I was just as equally ecstatic about my gifts. He got me a new Kodak camera that is thinner that my cell phone so I can easily take it anywhere instead of hauling along our nice, but gia-nourmous Fujifilm. It takes awesome pics. I also got a wool coat, a "Taste of Home"cookbook, the last Michael Crichton book, "Pirate Latitudes", and a way cute purse!



After opening our gifts to each other we went to Payson to spend time with our families. Dan's mom makes her famous egg casserole breakfast every Christmas. It is so delicious! We opened gifts, ate lots of yummy food, including a yummy yaki niku lunch, and played ping pong; we also went and saw Sherlock Holmes with Lorin and Sue. Dan's family got a wii for Christmas so we spent a lot of time playing "Smash Brothers" and "Mario Cart"; the wii Sports was also fun! Dan's younger bro Jake got a skateboarding game for his xbox, and Dan had fun playing with him!


Later that night we went to Matt and Cathy's house to exchange gifts. We got a really special present from Matt and Cathy. This picture:

in a nice frame, with each of their testimonies and a neat story. Thank you Cathy for that very thoughtful gift! We draw "pixies" each year, and get that person/family a present instead of getting every sibling in the family a present. This year our pixie was Mandy and Neil. We got them a gift certificate to Los Hermanos because they just had a new baby and if I were a mom of two, I would want a night out with my hubby! Kelee had Dan and me for her pixie. She gave us the cutest Eternal Family picture frame. David came over and it was nice to spend time with family and play with the kiddos.

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

My husband is now 25. He was 22 when we started dating and got married. Now I am 22...that is weird to me. Time seems to fly by. I felt really bad this year because I had to be at school almost all day yesterday, which meant Dan was working during the busiest time of the month in the office all day by himself...on his birthday. After work was not much better, I had to meet with a group to get a presentation ready for one of my classes. It was absolutely the only day we could all meet together. BUT, the evening took a turn for the better when I finally got home! We cooked our own yaki-niku style dinner. It was yummy as usual. Dan opened a few gifts, and then I made him a very pitiful cake...lol I am not much of a cake decorator. Regardless, it tasted great! Happy Birthday Dan! I love you so so much.

Dinner!

The new racket he got from his parents

Dan doesn't get as excited about new clothes as I do for some reason?? :)

My prisoner for the evening :)