I am Thankful for Easter and My Savior

Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives, I know that My Redeemer Lives!

Hoppy Easter!

Yesterday after a full day of yard work, we relaxed with the kids and our neighbor boy coloring eggs for Easter. It was a perfect day out, so why not do it outside where the bunnies lay their eggs anyway, right?!



Even on Easter, our BYU support comes out!



Avery and her rainbow of colorful eggs...



...but the most impressive was her "Hello Kitty" egg that she drew all by herself! Those eggs are hard enough to draw on as it is, so this was just extra awesome.


Owen and his egghead...silly boy sure knows how to make me laugh!


And this is Zack...I'm at a loss for words.



Here's a little finished product preview of Project Yard Makeover. It is turning out to be all we hoped, but it sure is a lot of work! Totally worth every sore muscle though. :)

Happy Easter!

Owen is 9 Years Old!

Owen is quite possibly the biggest Jimmer/BYU basketball fan of all time! His whole 9th birthday has been centered around this theme and what better time than during March Madness! Sure hasn't hurt that BYU has made it to the Sweet 16 either!

We love our Owen and can't believe how tall and handsome he is getting! His sweet smile and kind heart warms our family and makes the Ogden household loads of fun. We are so thankful for Owen and that he came straight from heaven 9 years ago today.

Run for Ribbons

This last Saturday the boys and I had an awesome opportunity to combine our forces for good. We ran the Run for Ribbons race to raise money for the fight against cancer. We each received a blank shirt that we could color in to represent the kind of cancer for those we were running.

Our awesome Grandma Morgan is battling cancer right now and we ran hard for her this day. Grandma is fighting hard and we are so proud of her! We also chose Momma Lees, who just found out last week that she has stage 3, possible stage 4, ovarian cancer. She is the mother of one of my dearest friends, Yvonne. Owen, my little guy next to me, chose to also run for Matthew, a little boy who lost his fight with cancer last winter. He was our Zack's age and a very close friend to our dear friends, the Cases.

It was a very touching day and I was so proud of my boys for running so hard for someone else.

We are also very proud of Zack for taking 2nd in the race and completing his 5K in 23 min and 37 seconds! Wow!

To all of you who have been affected by cancer now or in the past, we hope you can feel our love and our prayers for you and your family.

My New Loves

You know how life just kind of gets into this same-old-same-old routine and then the Lord sees fit to throw in some curve balls? I just have to dedicate a blog post to the awesome curve balls that have come into my life lately.


New Love #1: Scouts
A couple of weeks ago I was called to work with the Cub Scouts in our ward. I always thought doing this would be fun, but WOW! It is awesome! These boys are so great and full of energy!

We had our Blue and Gold carnival last week and it was a total blast. Every week is going to be a party with these guys...and I love the ladies I get to work with as well (here are two of them)!

Owen earned his Wolf Badge and did a great job not puncturing my skin while pinning the award on his mommy...me. I was very grateful and also very proud of my own growing Scout.



New Love #2: Pamela's Products
I recently have discovered that I have a gluten intolerance. Going gluten free is a little scary at first, but when you feel so much better, you get excited at the possibilities! I have a great friend, Yvonne, who has a daughter who cannot eat gluten and has directed me to "Pamela's Products."


Honestly, I like these brownies and pancakes even better than the original...and not only because I feel no pain after eating them! I found 4 lb bags of Pamela's Products Pancake Mix on Amazon for remarkably less than in-stores and we use it for everything. We make pancakes nearly everyday and tonight we made biscuits...all to do die for! Even my kids and hubby are loving this change thanks to this new find.



New Love #3: Zumba
You will NOT be getting a picture of this. My friends invited me to join them for Zumba class (taught by one of my new favorite people!) and I finally started this last week. I have to admit that I was a little hesitant because I had only seen crazy wild Zumba dancing and wasn't sure if I could move like that in a room by myself, let alone in front of a group. After one class, I was hooked! It is a so fun to dance and feel like a Salsa Dancer, especially with my group of new friends...which leads me to my next new love.

New Love #4: My friends!
We moved here nearly 8 months ago and I feel so blessed to have made such incredible new friends. They are fun, supportive, love me for who I am (with and without makeup), help me and let me help them, and I can't wait for the fun adventures ahead of us.

Life is good. Thanks for the curve balls, Lord. I'm glad you know me so well. :)

Happy Hearts Day!

Just ask my kids and they will tell you, I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY! There is just something so fun about a holiday that let's you share a little extra love for a whole day!

One of our favorite traditions is having the kids wake up to a table full of Valentine's and a special breakfast. We have always made pink pancakes in the past, but this year we chose to do cinnamon rolls with pink frosting. The kids really enjoyed that!
Sweet little Avery had some eye itching and burning yesterday and woke up to full blown Pink Eye in both eyes. She still is cute to me, though!




Jeremy WOW-ed me this year by bringing the kids in on his surprise. They each wrote me 3 Valentines and hid them with a pink tulip all over the house. I had to go hunting for them and then at the end they had a huge bouquet of tulips for me! It was the sweetest Valentine's gift ever and I am so thankful for my sweetheart and my kiddos.

Happy Hearts Day!

January 2011

Our family has decided that 2011 is going to be one of our greatest years ever and it has already taken off with a bang! We were fortunate enough to have Jeremy's parents come and be with us for nearly a whole week early in January. We greatly enjoyed having them here with us talking, going out to eat, and swimming at their hotel. The kids loved the pool and hot tub and entertained the adults with incredibly painful, but hilarious belly flops. They had enormous red marks to prove their fun!



Scentsy is doing a Spring Sprint training tour all over the US this month and next. My sister, Andi and I, were able to attend in Portland along with one of my fabulous Scentsy Director's, Christa Gefke. We had a great time and learned a lot!

Jeremy is feeling absolutely amazing and has more energy than ever since his surgery in December. He is quite the father and is always teaching our boys how to be men. Together they created this awesome hook board for the kids to hang their after school things on in the garage. It is pretty sweet!

Avery has finished ballet and has decided that she would like to try her hand in something new: gymnastics. She starts this week and is very excited about it. She is even going to be writing a report about her new activity for school.


The last week of January we were blessed to have my awesome brother, Michael Jensen, and his family come stay with us for my birthday. We had the best night watching Brian Regan live and laughed our heads off at his great comedy. Our kids got along perfectly and it was such a pleasure having them in our home. It ended much too quickly!





I have always enjoyed cooking, but my love for it is growing by the day! I am always looking for new things to create and enjoy with my family.


I turned 32 on the 29th of January and I must say that it was the best darn birthday ever! I was surrounded by my favorite people and loved soaking it all in. I think 32 is my favorite age so far. My darling friend, Erin Case, sent me this beautiful hand-crocheted hat...isn't it just cute?! One of my best friends from high school, Yvonne, has an incredibly talented husband, Malo. He hand designed and cut this GORGEOUS iron wall hanging for me. It now resides prominently in my bathroom above the jetted tub where I can stare at it for as long as my bubbles will float!