Historical home part of our family history

Yesterday I was reading a blog entry about the historical details of the old Provo Tabernacle soon to be Provo City Center Temple.  As the blogger discussed ornamental details she mentioned one of Provo's old historic homes and I recognized it.  It played an important part in our younger life and our own family history.

When we were newly married, this home had been renovated into an office space which Glen and a partner leased.  Soon after, our first son was born and we used the home for an open house after Eric received his name and a blessing at the Manavu Ward building.  It was on July 4, 1976 which was also the bicentennial anniversary of the United States of America and we felt there were more than enough reasons to celebrate.  At that point the house had been refurbished but there was not a kitchen.  The outside was painted a light brown color with a creamy white trim.  We loved it!

On that day we had the honor of hosting many generations of family including grandparents, great grandparents, and even great, great grandparents along with their siblings allowing for this wonderful five generation photo.  There were also five generations standing in the circle blessing our new son. These pictures were taken on the historic front porch.

I learned from the blog post that this was the George Taylor home. 

At some point during the almost 40 years since we had stood on the porch with our brand new baby, it had been painted blue with white trim and then allowed to go to ruin.

I am so delighted that this home has recently been brought to life again.  Habitat for Humanity has helped a young family with five children make this their new home with a kitchen, two bathrooms, and enough bedrooms.  First built in 1885, it once again shines and has officially been placed on the Register of Historic Homes.

Grand Parade

A Provo City Fourth always begins with the Grand Parade.  My nephew, Jason in sunglasses, and Glen arrived at the parade route at 4:30 am to secure and prepare for us this shady viewing spot.  They even saved me a chair.  We may have been missing cousins, but I had siblings.  My only brother, Farrell, and his wife, Eveline, came from New Mexico.  My sister, Lynette, and husband, Lowell, came from Kansas. Thanks for waving girls!

Pre-parade is popper time.

Julianna loves popper time.

Brother Toby kept her supplied.

Toby was missing some cousins this year.  His sister waited by reading a book.

And the parade begins on an overcast summer morning.  Perfect weather for a parade, especially after several days of three digits.

Great day to celebrate Faith, Family, and Country.

My favorite band is always the Scottish bag pipers.

The balloons were pretty much tethered to the ground this year.  I think it was hard to navigate downtown this year with all the construction going on.

There were and amazing number of military vehicles.  I give you one tank.

 The American Fork High School marching band was great.

As was their city float for Miss American Fork.

So appropriate that Salem included a fish.  Our Grandpa fishing trips occur just south of the Salem border.

I honestly love red, white, and blue.  Visit either of our current residences and you will find this to be true.

And my very favorite part of the parade, the Mormon missionaries serving in Provo.  This year for the first time the sisters were as numerous as the elders.

It was a glorious sight!  I have so much respect for these young men and women and their choice to serve their God and their fellow man so selflessly.  I hope there was a parade where you were.

Family brushes with celebrity

I record these moments for the family stories yet to be told over and over.  Youngest son Nathan signed up to be a driver for the Sundance Film Festival 2013 this weekend.  He was assigned to the lovely Keri Russell.  As you can see from this borrowed cell phone picture, he and Keri seemed to enjoy one another's company.  Keri has been a favorite of mine since "Felicity" days.  Did anyone else watch the Felicity TV series?  Keri has been to Sundance before starring as a pie baking waitress in "Waitress." This year she is promoting and starring in "Austenland" based on a book by Shannon Hale, a Utah author.  Surprisingly it was produced by Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight series of books.

Last Sunday grandson, TJ, attended an LDS fireside where Todd Heap former NFL Raven tight end spoke.  Afterward, TJ approached him to just say hello.  Imagine his surprise when Todd told him to "whoop on his uncle David for him."  Then Todd's father asked TJ if Glen Jensen was his grandfather.  What TJ didn't know is that Glen used to coach Todd and his brother in Little League and that Todd and his uncle David have been good friends for a long time.  TJ was pretty impressed that a NFL football player and his father would mention his family members by name

David, please note that unlike you, TJ is NOT taller than Todd.

In October 2011, I was in New Mexico visiting my son, Ryan.  He was very excited about the movie being made in his neck of the woods.  He even drove me south to Belen to see the town and current movie set where Arnold Schwarzenegger was starring in an action movie.  There had been lots of sightings here and there of Arnold and those involved.  "The Last Stand" was just released and a store front in Belen can be seen in the background of the photo above.  Belen is not on the Arizona/Mexico border as depicted in the movie, but I guess it's close enough.  Belen has also been used for other movie locations over the years.

Not wanting to leave any of my sons out of this post, Eric went to a live performance of Prairie Home Companion on Saturday at the Gammage Auditorium on the Arizona State University campus with his wife, Susan.  He said it was fun to watch.  You can listen to it here.  And that is what's new here in family blogger land.

Doughnut Day 2011 and the first annual Jensen Family Olympics

Doughnut Day 2011 was much like Doughnut Day 2010 except that these two loving brothers decided that we needed some physical activity before making and eating calorie laden doughnuts. Nathan and David also wanted to race one another, so we met at Red Mountain High School track for the First Annual Jensen Family Olympics before traveling the additional couple of miles to Eric's house and kitchen for doughnut making. (Notice how David is dressed for the season?)

There was a variety of events for both young and old.

Fast and slow.

Boys and girls.

Cute cousins.

Best buds.

The oldest of them all.

And the BFFs.

They threw paper airplanes from the bleachers.

And threw sand on the track until the track coach told them to "stop it!"

A fun, fast day

for all kinds of footwear.

Then the children played, just like last year, while the adults rolled, cut, and fried dough.

David was the first fryer. Notice the towel covered pans in the background. We soon figured out the the doughnuts raised faster in the sun.

We were occasionally joined by reinforcements.

Really cute reinforcements.

This year the babies were walking.

Our three youngest grand children are growing up too fast.

Again, there was the bagging of fresh, hot doughnuts which were then delivered throughout Mesa and Gilbert.

Grandpa took over the second shift of frying after a nap on the living room couch. Nate was everywhere, and finished up with glazing.

This year we did follow last year's final decision and made one additional Bosch Mixer full of dough. It was a great decision! Each family also took home their own large pan of doughnuts.

Disappearing places from the past

This post is not about our first home as a married couple. Our first summer was spent in a Love Carmella one bedroom apartment just around the corner from Glen's parents in Hawthorne, CA.

This post is about our second home as a married couple. We moved back to Provo to attend BYU at the end of our first summer. That hole in the ground is where we lived for over a year and where we brought home our first baby boy.

It was a bit of a shock to drive by while we were in Utah and realize that they had just demolished this place of so many good memories. Glen picked himself out a brick to keep as a souvenir.

Our former home wasn't the only house to go. This is where the house next door used to be and that pile of rubble in the background was the home of Hugh Nibley and his family.

Where the alien destroyer is standing was my garden plot. It was just a tiny square of land behind the garage but it overlooked the large family garden of the Nibleys and they inspired me to give a garden a try. While experiencing my first natural child birth that summer, I would go in my head to my garden and count the plants to help manage the pain. It sort of worked.

This is a picture of a picture that my daughter took and framed as a special gift for us. Dear Sister Swapp lived upstairs and rented out two apartments in the basement to girls. I lived there first with my friend Glenna. Then I became engaged to Glen and we convinced Sister Swapp to rent to us. Those were the good old days. Our monthly rent was $100 and included all utilities. From then on, she rented to couples.

She was so excited about baby Eric. She came out on that front porch to welcome us home from the hospital in our little dark blue VW bug. In the summer, all of the house plants (some very large) were moved out onto that porch. I loved sitting there and visiting with my elderly friend. Before baby, we were great temple going companions.

I was also Phyllis Nibley's visiting teacher and daughter, Martha's, YW leader. Hugh Nibley was such an interesting man. "Why buy new clothing? There is plenty of perfectly good clothing at the DI," he would say. I often watched him walk briskly by headed for campus while munching on a carrot.


We had three rooms and a large storage closet. We had an outside entrance just off the driveway by the porch. We entered into our combo kitchen and dining area which had a darling Hooiser cupboard like the one pictured above. The closet and living room opened through separate doors off the kitchen. The front basement window in the above picture was in our living room. There was another window in the living room on the north side. I loved seeing the light on in that window as I walked home from campus in the evening. It welcomed me home. Our bedroom door was on the west wall of the living room and the bathroom door was on the west wall of the bedroom. We could only hear the people in the back of the basement apartment from that bathroom. When Eric would cry, Glen would move his bassinet from the bedroom to the kitchen AND then close both doors. That would also make me cry.

We had to make some adjustments as the first couple. We dismantled the bunk bed and bought a king sized mattress at Hugh Nibley's favorite store. It filled the space but we still had walking room. There was an old fashioned dresser in the bedroom which later became a changing table for Eric.

I loved our little homey space. It took less than an hour to clean from top to bottom and it was our "home." I can't believe that it is really gone. I guess prime real estate right next to campus is pretty irresistible. The two houses on the corner to the south were empty and will probably be down by our next visit. It will be interesting to see what goes in. Time really does march on.