Life in July

Daniel has been such a great helper this summer with his sisters. He and Rachel look so much a like-- she's kind of a petite version of what he looked like as a baby.

One of Ashley's favorite things to do in Provo is to go to the Balloonfest on the 4th of July. This year we actually got up and made it for the balloon launch at 6:30 AM! Daniel had fun watching them blow up the hot air balloons.

Ashley's mom came along, which was such a help-- because Nathan was terrified of the balloons being blown up. He spent the balloonfest hiding behind Mimi.

Daniel 5 1/2 yrs.

Ashley and the girls

Dave's nieces Lauren and Katie Jensen came to visit from California

Lizzy is SO interested in her baby sister. It's hard to keep her away when Rachel is in the room. Little girls are just meant to be mothers!

If you have a cell phone and come close to Lizzy-- beware! She is obsessed with cell phones. If she sees one-- there's no diverting her attention!

Lizzy 14 months

Nathan loves to do puzzles and he is actually quite good at them. He can do many of the kids ones by himself without any help.

Rachel 6 weeks old

Rachel 7 weeks old.

It has been SO SO hot in Utah lately and in Ashley's opinion quite miserable. The boys don't care and want to be outside all of the time. So, Ashley's been taking them out to ride bikes early in the morning, while the weather is still bearable. Nathan is quite the daredevil on his scooter. He knows no fear!

Daniel is so excited about his electric red scooter. He spend 2 months earning it, by learning not to be so obsessed with germs and to keep his hands from bleeding. He loves riding it around the neighborhood.

Ashley bought this double stroller at a garage sale recently. It's been so helpful-- because now she can take the girls out for a morning walk while the boys ride around on their bikes.

Rachel likes looking at all the colors outside. All the stimulation usually helps her take a good morning nap.

Life in June

Ashley with the baby girls

Lizzy is so fascinated with Rachel. Whenever she is in the room, Lizzy just has to touch her head (poke her eyes) and grab her bottle. She's more excited about Rachel than our cat (which says a lot!)

Ashley helped do service at our new neighborhood park with the YM & YW. We weeded, planted sod, trees, etc.

For Father's Day we went to Dave's parents house to celebrate with his dad and siblings. Here Dave is pictured with his brother Brad and sisters Linda and Debbie.

Nathan was helping "Paka" open his presents.

Here's a photo of all the grandkids & great-grandkids that were at the dinner. It was pretty chaotic. The Jensen family is definitely growing!

Daniel is such a great helper with his little sisters.

Lizzy finally started crawling at 13 months! We got her to start practicing crawling by making marshmellow trails through the house--- like Hanzel & Gretel!

Daniel loves to feed and hold Rachel. He even wants to walk around with her these days (which scares Ashley a bit!)

A chaotic family photo at Ashley's parents house.

Ashley took the boys to a Orem's summerfest and met up with her mom and brother Stephan there. Daniel had a lot of fun riding the ferris wheel with his cousins Barrett and Austin.

Stephan with Austin

The boys had a lot of fun eating cotton candy, going on rides and spending time with their cousins. It was a great day.

First Two Weeks

Rachel is now two weeks old and we are adjusting to life with 4 kids. Dave is really taken with Rachel (I guess it took 4 kids for him to get more comfortable with babies-- or maybe it's because Rachel is just so good, but he has been a big help to Ashley this time around).

Rachel sleeps really well during the day. We are trying to get her to sleep that well at night! But, she is making progress, sometimes now sleeping in 3 hour stretches.

Lizzy is making great strides in her crawling. She is very curious about the baby (like she is out cat) and gets a little jealous when she sees Ashley holding her. It's been motivating her to crawl or scoot towards Ashley

Daniel just loves his baby sisters.

Lizzy is now 13 months

We had a very low key 37th birthday celebration for Dave. Daniel really wanted to get Dave a bike for his birthday so that they could go bike riding together, now that Daniel rides a 2 wheeler. They've been having fun riding around the neighborhood.

The boys had to help blow out (spit on) the candles!

Ashley with the babies

Baby Rachel at 2 weeks old. We think she looks a bit like Nathan when he was a baby.

Rachel weighed 8 lbs 10 oz at her 2 week appt. She's gaining weight nicely and loves to eat.

Baby Rachel

On May 31st we welcomed Rachel Ashley Jensen into our family. She was by far our smallest baby, weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long.

Ashley's labor progressed really quickly. It was only 2 hours from start to finish.

Dave holding baby Rachel before he went home and crashed after losing a night's sleep.

Ashley's nurse was a friend of hers from church, so she was kind enough to take this picture of Rachel getting a bath (since Dave and Ashley were sleeping)

Ashley's parents brought the kids to visit

Our latest photo of the Jensen family-- now 6 of us!