Off to Haiti!!

If you asked Scott his next travel destination of choice, this may have been one of the last on the list...but nonetheless, he is on his way to Haiti.

I had to look up a map to see exactly where in the Caribbean Haiti actually is, and was surprised at how close to Cuba it is.
We found out Thursday that there was a possibility that Scott would go down to Haiti with a group of Church leaders and doctors to report for the Deseret News and Church News publications on the Humanitarian efforts by the LDS Church in Haiti; but definite plans were slow in coming. It was on and off until Saturday afternoon when he was called by the Church to tell him he was on the list for the flight to Florida on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

We went back to Emergency Essentials to pick up the hiking water purifier bottle we had checked into, and made a late night run to KMart to pick up a bigger rolling duffle to fit in blankets, water, food and even a few old clothes. He is taking things that for the most part can be left behind if needed...or if stolen!
Here is Scott with his new "luggage" packed and ready to go. He met up with Bishop Burton and other General Authorities at the airport where he was given a "survival pack" from the Church with many of the same supplies we had purchased/packed for him to take as a precaution.

Scott has arrived in Florida and was supposed to fly out at 2:00 a.m. Utah time but the flight is now slated for Monday at 6:00 p.m. so he will have time to rub shoulders with doctors and church personnel all tomorrow before their cargo plane takes off for the Dominican Republic; then ground transportation to Haiti. We have no idea if we can communicate easily or not, we will see and will keep you all posted.

He is in good spirits and in good company. He likes the photographer going down with him and we feel he will have more security with Church officials than if they would have sent him down on his own.

Keep Scott in your prayers...I asked him on the way to the airport if he has ever seen a dead body...like most of us, he has not. I do not know how cleaned up the areas he will be going to will be, but it is a humbling and frightening thought. (At least we have been watching the TV series "Lost" which has had several dead bodies for him to practice on.)

I am sure he will have an incredible experience there and come back with a new perspective and appreciation of how blessed we all are.

Meet Carter Jensen!

We counted down the days until Ty, Jenna and baby Carter came to Utah to visit for the holidays! It was so much fun getting to know this new member of the family!LeAnn brought Vicky, Lizzie, Cody and Tanner to visit the baby and they all thought he was pretty cute!
Grandma Carole Olsen thought her first great-grandbaby was wonderful...and he liked her too!
Braden had a way of making Carter smile about every time he appeared! They were natural friends!
And Breanna loved to SNUGGLE with baby Carter. They are both pros at snuggling!
Grandma could not get enough Carter time either...whether it was baths or changing diapers or just playing. It was all good!
Aunt Lori came over for New Years and got some extra Carter time too! He was pretty happy about that as well.
Great Grandpa Sydney Carter James came over for a visit to meet his little namesake Carter too!
The only thing about this trip was that it was just TOO SHORT!!! We cannot wait to see the Jensens again soon! Thanks for coming to see us! WE LOVE YOU!

Is It CHRISTMAS?

The kids had enjoyed showing us the website "Is it Christmas.com" which is pretty funny...check it out. When we got up on Christmas morning, Braden had programed all the computers in the house with multiple windows of this site telling us that YES indeed it was Christmas.
We donned our Santa hats and got into the present opening.

Santa brought Austin a new guitar...it was amazing, Austin knew to bring his amplifier to our house!!!
Mom got into the gift opening...and then we had Christmas again when Jenna and Tyrel came to see us a few days after Christmas. Ty is reading his book about bears in this photo!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!