February 2010

Well, the short month of February has come and gone in a flash! How fast the times goes when the month is missing a few days.

With the big Valentines day on the calender once again, I (Eric) somehow summoned from the deep recesses of my being, a little bit of romance, (which is a tall task to pull out of the deep Andreasen Viking gene pool) to put together a video walk down memory lane as part of my Valentines gift for Nikki.

Tyler also had a long weekend over Valentines day/President's Day holiday and decided to come home to visit! We wish we could say it was to see us, but it was probably because of our annual Valentines day feast (Lobster, Crab legs, Steak and all that good stuff). Just kidding Ty guy, we know you love us..... but we also know the food was a bonus! :)

Here's what some of the full spread looked like! Yummy!!!!!














Eric Pounding down some crab legs!














What a delicious pile of crab legs! Good thing you have to burn some calories breaking into them or we all might have had a cardiac arrest from all the food!



















This was actually the calm before the eating storm!















Nikki also undertook another one of her amazingly awesome and unbelievable thrifty wonder crafty transformation projects this past month. When she came in with this old chair she'd bought at the D.I., we all scratched our heads and wondered what she had in mind, but decided to just get out of the way and let her work her magic!














Nikki's ability to take something like this and see the hidden beauty and potential within it, has always amazed me, and I believe it to be a truly Christlike quality in her personality; for the Savior surely sees the hidden potential and beauty within all of us, even when we feel worn down and cast aside by life at times. Sometimes He has to tear us down to the roots and refurbish what lies within us.















And it is within the power of his atonement that we can be transformed into something wonderful and useful once again.




















She is also building a matching ottoman to go with it, so stay tuned for pictures of that next month. Along with some pictures of Nikki's birthday and other fun and exciting adventures on Andreasen Lane!

Pictures from Brick!!!

Brick, Elder Alcazar and one of their newest converts, Francisco.

Brick with his latest companiero, Elder Bravo.

At a park(???) eating a sack lunch a sister prepared for them.

A Chihuahua sunset.

Brick cherishing the stocking we sent him. (we made it out of an old church shirt and tie sewn into the shape of a stocking)

Goofin' around a bit!
Some poor little baby chicks. He said they sell them spray painted like that. Weird!

Brick and Elder Alcazar with the Beto family. (he said the daughter with her face painted had just come from a party or something)

One of Brick's companions, Elder Alcazar and a view of Chihuahua.

January 2010

Missy keeping her New Years resolution to get more beauty rest. (She's almost camouflaged under that blanket) She's so stinkin' cute.
We've had some incredibly beautiful frostly, clear mornings.



The holiday's are through, the party's over, now the real fun begins: Nikki had nasal surgery Jan. 7th and that was just as much fun as they say it is! (sorry no actual pictures taken as Eric thought Nikki might kill him if he did!) But this young girl pretty much sums up how she felt!




Tyler went back to school on the 8th, back to the grind! and mom cried. It didn't help that she was throwing up all day too!

Well, needless to say, we're all glad that's over!!! Now she is actually starting to breath through her nose for the first time in years (or perhaps her entire life), which leads Eric to think he may have to start bathing more often and that he wont be able to get away with passing gas without getting caught.
O.K., by now you probably know this summary is being written by Eric as Nikki would never post such pics on the blog, but since we didn't use the camera much, we had to be creative somehow right?


Mason and Eric have been working out at the local gym quite regulary (3-4 times a week), which has not only helped shed a little flab, but is giving them some good male, testosterone bonding time as well. They are not quite there yet, but have hopes of looking like these guys by the time they go to Lake Powell for vacation this year!

The only other exciting thing that happened, was on Tyler's first day of class back at ISU, he was running across campus and in trying to cut some time off his travels, jumped over a 3 foot cement wall. While landing on the other side, both the straps on his new backpack ripped off, dumping his pack to the ground with yes, his laptop inside!!!

Well, it wasn't actually as bad as this picture, but it pretty much trashed it and so Dad had to spring for a new one, so that he could actually get his schoolwork done.

To try and recuperate, we all took a trip to Lava Hot Springs one day to soak in the wonderful mineral hot springs, and even took a trip up to Green Canyon with Eric's brother Carl and his family.

Tyler's computer and Nikki's surgery just go to show that sometimes, the type of excitement we get isn't the kind of excitement we're looking for! Hopefully, in that regards, February will be a fairly boring month for us! We hope you are all having a great New Year!

Our 2009

New Years Eve-Eve 2008... The day before Brick went into the MTC (Mission Training Center) we took the newly finished TRAX train to Salt Lake City for one last evening all together. We went to the Conference Center on Temple square where my parents were serving as tour guides and they gave us a personal tour of that amazing building. What an awe inspiring place! We also checked out the movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and had fun riding the trolleys around town. Brothers saying farewell at the MTC . New Years Eve 2008 One last Noogie!

Ready to dive into the work! Mom and Dad are so glad to see how happy and excited he is! and so proud of the great young man he has become. MTC companion, Elder Wood. MTC roomies Snippets from Brick's first letters home. He loves to cartoon everything! Now that we only get Emails, it's not quite as entertaining, although his sence of humor still comes through! (Click on pics to enlarge)

My favorite letter from Brick in the MTC

More snippets from his last letter in the MTC. Missionary Man

Tyler at the Simplot Games, a huge indoor track meet held in Pocatello's mini-dome. Feb. 2009 We had lots of fun taking Ty to several indoor track meets throughout Idaho and Utah! We're sure gonna miss watching him run! But now he's off to bigger and better things!

Army guys repelling in front of the enormous flag during the opening ceremonies of the Simplot games. Awesome! Tyler with a former Olympic High Jumper, Dick Fosbury - inventor of the Fosbury Flop.

Dad and Tyler playing with grapes. Didn't their mothers ever tell them not to play with their food? :) Mason with cousin Shaelie at the annual Harshbarger coasting party.Riding out on the horse-drawn sleigh is so fun! Tyler and Grandma J. Tyler checking out a kiddie sled. Mason and cousin Shaelie taking a spin on a big kid sled!Out for a trail ride. What beautiful country! Played too hard! Ready to go relax at the cabin the Jensen family rented. It was a blast playing games, goofing off and just being together!

Mason and Tyler: Jedi Masters! Missy and Abby: Snuggle buds. Mom in a rare moment of multitasking: Chillin' with Missy, chatting on the phone and checking out the latest seed catalogs.

Tyler, Mason and Dad out having fun with the Shotgun. (Mason's first shot, ever-hillarious!)

Brick arriving at the Mission Home in Chihuahua, Mexico. There with Mission Pres. and his wife. At 6'5" he towers over most of the people of Mexico.

Our sweetheart Abby, resting her head on Eric's leg.

Brick's very first baptism. Brick's 1st Apartment. Teeny, tiny & grungy-Yikes!

Some of the streets of Juarez. Brick's 1st and 2nd areas were in different parts of this huge, drug war-zone city. Good thing for guardian angels. (Actually, he said the areas he was in were fairly peaceful, considering. - thank heavens!)

Tyler on a field trip to check out ISU's college of technology, Engineering tech. program. Which he later opted to attend and is now in his 2nd semester and doing great.

Tyler and Abby on a trip out to the river. Mason and Missy Abby taking a dip. Eric and Mason soaking in the April sunshine. Missy on our way back home. Ready for take off!

Mason enjoying a nice day of fishing on the nearby Teton River Chillaxing in the nice spring sunshine! Tyler winning 300 hurdles at the Sugar invitational - on his way to winning District Championships Eric showing Mason the finer points of throwing the shot put.

Eric put together this hurdle highlights film of Ty's senior year of track.

Mr. GQ ready to knock the girls off their feet. Senior Prom 2009. He took Jaqueline Lee.

Watch out 007, you have some competition. Brick's 2nd Baptism.

Visiting Mesa Falls So beautiful, but pictures never do things justice. Dad Goofing off! Handsome boy!

More Mesa Falls beauty!

Mason and Dad fixing the roof. Thanks!

Mason and cousin Joe on top of Bronco stadium at the Idaho State Track Championships.

Tyler recieving his 4th place medal for the 300 hurdles. His times beat all these guys all year, but this just wasn't his day. He had a great season with breaking the school record twice in the 300 hurdles as well as helping break the 4x400 relay record in which they barely got beat out for the state title. Mom and Dad couldn't be more proud of his hard work and the great young man he has become.

Tyler Andreasen, Sam Romney, Mike Dailey and Thomas Johanson recieving their 2nd place medals and feeling good about their 5 second crushing of the school record!

Tyler and some friends after Seminary graduation.

Ty gladly receiving some much needed scholarships.

Tyler graduating with honors- Sugar Salem High School, Class of 2009.

Tyler with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen.

Ty with his Grandma and Grandpa Andreasen.

Every time we went skiing to Targhee we would pass by the most beautiful little cemetary just out of Alta Wyoming and I would wish I could be buried there because it is so quaint and it has the most beautiful, closeup view of the Tetons. After finding out we had ancestors buried there, we decided to go visit them on Memorial Day. It was really cool to find out they were there!

Hyrum Smith Stevens was the son of Lyman Stevens a prominent pioneer and friend to the prophet Joseph Smith. Two of his sons he named after the prophet and his brother.

Hannah Elizabeth Stevens' parents are buried there too.

In late June we went to Lake Powell for a Jensen Family Reunion. My brother Derek and his wife Michelle pictured above have partnership in a houseboat, so we have been able to go with them for the last 3 summers. It is such a blast and the landscape is truly incredible! Thanks Derek and Mic and Trish and Brent for letting us share in the fun of your boats! A view of some of the toys and the channel we're heading down, looking for a spot to call home for the next 6 days.

Tyler passing time as James Bond and his "cool" hat or so it looks like, until we find a place to settle in.

Mason and cousin Jensen goofing around and waiting for the time to play in the water!

Eric and Nikki's brother Jake helping beach and secure the house boat . That helps just a little bit for when you have a huge wind storm like we did this year! It was kind of scary to say the least. I would have taken some pics of that, but we were all busy, securing lines, standing in the water chest high pushing the speed boats away from the rocks, etc... it was intense for sure. But it went as fast as it came thank heavens. Finally time for some fun in the sun! Mason with cousins Kenzi and Shaelie, with cousin buddies, Kambree and Cole kneeboarding in the background.

A beautiful evening after a fun-filled day! Eric jumping the wakes with Kambree and Cole kneeboarding in the foreground. Mason getting the hang of kneeboarding The quiet top deck, perfect for sunbathing or as Mason is doing, soaking up the heat reflecting off it.

My brother Jake and nephew Jordan inventing a new form of frizbee!

Eric chillaxin' on the 2nd deck after a hard days play.

Eric, bro in law Brent and Nephew Jensen showing us all how the hula is really done!

Nikki's sister Kami surfing~ the hottest new thing in boating! You actually surf on the wake right behind the boat. So fun!

Tyler learning to jump the full wake!

Nikki's niece doing a backtuck. She can do a double one of these in her floor routine and in a layed-out position, no less! Amazing! I smell scholarships!!

Kenzi's back tuck. She's not too far behind her sister! Nikki's living her dream through them!

Emalee, the next up & coming Jensen clan gymnast, getting some help from her cous.

At the 4th of July Parade with Eric's brother Carl and his wife Jinger and fam.

One of the requirements for Tyler getting a job at Ray's Chevron & Car wash was that he had to be on their drillteam! Hillarious!

The brave ones finding shelter under the big pine in our back yard. We were having a perfectly great 4th of July barbeque with some of Erics family and my parents, when all of a sudden a huge down pour came through! Oh well, it made for great big, huge, sopping memories.

Tyler's 18th Birthday. Don't ask me why we don't have any pics of Mason's B-day. :( ~Bad, Mom, bad, bad, Mom!

Tyler and Dad showing off their catch. Mom and Mason got skunked!

Out for another nature walk amongst the summer skeeters. I hate skeeters!

Eric playing in the river with Abby.

Abby of Arabia enjoying a snuggly towel after a nice summer bath.

Nikki and Mason went huckleberrying with Nikki's cousins and their kids. Here they are taking a break for lunch with Maren, Nora, Andy, Lila, and Ella. Nikki with cousins Mamie and Brenda after the big huckleberry harvest and wishing they could just camp there for a week or two to get more of the precious morsels.

Nikki enjoyed spending some time with her parents and brother helping build a pumphouse, shower/bathroom last summer on her moms 5 acre quakie patch in Squirrel, ID where they are hoping to build a cabin. Her dad (who dubbed it "the fanciest outhouse in the west")and his friend are shown in this pic. (Wanting to preserve some of the history of the place, she and her mom carefully and painstakenly salvaged the old wood siding off the decrepid old house on the property, and used it for the pumphouse- boy did we get crap over that one!! But the guys, in the end, thought it turned out pretty cool after all) It will be so cute when it's all done, complete with a squirrel weather vane.

Tyler venturing out into the world. Here in front of his dorm at ISU in Pocatello, ready to take on the world (or at least his intense classes).

Brick with a new convert & family.

Mason tackling football again.

Brick with another convert and family and one of his favorite companions so far. At this point he has walked and sweated off nearly 60 lbs.

Mason on crazy hair day for spirit week.

Mason having fun with cousin Cru A Halloween wreath Nikki made out of lilac branches sprayed black.

Mason seeing if his glasses would help out our scarecrow any.

Missy spreading her wings.

This and the next 18 pics are from Mom and Mason's photo adventure we went on one day at the beginning of spud harvest. We had fun taking hundreds of photos, but these are just a few of our fav's. I took the opportunity of taking some pics of Mason in the process.





Concentrate!
I really like how this one turned out.

Lavender on the Rexburg Temple grounds
Angel Moroni in black & white
Wheat grass framing the beautiful wheat in the stained glass windows of the Rexburg Temple

This is probably my favorite.

The end of Mom's pics. Next up Masons pics:And that's the end of Mason's Fav's. That was a fun little adventure.

Nikki with her mom and the quilt she made for her Mom's Birthday.

Nikki's Fall wreath she made.

Mason out enjoying the first big snowfall.

Missy up to her belly in snow (its not saying much when your legs are only 3 inches long! :))

The big shake after burrowing in the fresh powder.

Mason loves playing with his dogs...even when they win!

The fish pinata Mason and Mom made for Brick for him to celebrate his "hump day"- 1 yr. mark of his mission.

Nikki loves to decorate outdoors as much as in, for the season.

The long walk... out to find the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Is that a bear track I see?...

No worries, we have our faithful, fearsome pooches along. I'm sure they would protect us~ha, ha.

No, not that one!!!

This one?
Mom approves!
Mason doing the honors.

And he GETS to carry it out too :).

Brick not sure if he's sliding down or climbing up! (sorry not more pics of him, he has hardly sent us any! & mom's not happy about that!)

He's still wearing short sleaves even in December, but says the weather feels only like October there. He is currently serving as Finance Secretary in the Mission Office and really enjoys the late afternoons when they finally get to go out and tract.

Tyler and cousin Shaelie perfecting the fine art of designing ginger bread houses at the Jensen Christmas Party.

Cousin Jensen and Ty.

Cousins Kambree, Cole, Emalee and Mason eating more than they're putting on their houses, but that's half the fun of it, right? The whole weekend was great! Thanks for the memories Grandma!

Nephew Gage (as well as everyone else) was quite impressed with the spread Grandma A. had for us at the Andreasen Christmas party. Thanks for the memories Grandma!

Nikki finding the coveted Christmas Almond in her Christmas Pudding! Yay! She gets to be Christmas Queen!- No work for her on Christmas day!

Eric and the boys weilding the "sword of Andreasen" that Eric's nephew Riley had made for Grandpa A. It has runes and emblems engraved in the handle and blade specific to the Norwegian name Andreasen- pretty cool.

He also had an Andreasen Crest made. SWEET! and found out Andreasen means "Manly Man"-Yeah!

The dogs weren't cooperating, & they looked so cute in their Christmas ribbons too.

HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

New Years Resolution- Put together a family blog: CHECK!

~And after going through our pictures, realized we are really bad at documenting our activities. We will try to be better picture takers and remember to take the camera with us more often!
We didn't even take pictures on Christmas day. :( (It's all on video & not the video on the camera so it's not easy to convert) Oh, well, there's always next year, right?