The Murray Jensens: March 2016

Deep in the heart of Texas.

We did finally end up leaving for Texas although a week later than we were planning on. Ryan ended up having interviews and calls all week which ultimately ended with two really strong job offers-from Allencom in Strategic/Consultative Sales and with Instructure as a Manager over their Customer Success team with Bridge (Their newest product). Most of the house remodel was done as well. We decided to leave Saturday morning and drive to Alb, NM and then finish the drive Sunday--stopping for sacrament meeting along the way which worked out perfectly. Ryan told both companies that he'd let them know by Tuesday morning his decision so we could spend the weekend talking and praying about it.

Anna gave me an idea to have the kids help me for one hour each to do their own suitcase packing as well as other general packing and in doing that, they earned a token that they could redeem on our drive to Texas to buy a treat. It worked out really well. I could sit on the floor with my bummed ankle and help keep them organized and focused and each of the kids could do the running around packing their car activity bag and other general trip getting readiness.

We stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Albuquerque that had an AWESOME outdoor/indoor pool that was huge. We ended up staying there on the way home as well because we e njoyed it so much. We left early and stopped by 5:00, ate at Chipotle and then they swam and swam. I went to bed with the kids and Ryan ended up going to work out and also the CEO from Allencomm called him and they talked for awhile.

Wes' 18th birthday was the day that we arrived in Texas. We all "Caroled " Happy Birthday at the doorstep as we arrived well after the birthday dinner/party.

Highlights of the trip:
1-Fort Worth stockyards with mom and Sarah and kids. APparently FOrt Worth is much more old Texas/cowboyish . The stockyards had their longhorns that were so fun to watch (ramming each other playfully), picking grass and feeding the other animals that were there, walking around to see the main part of town, and then watching them run the longhorns down the main street in the afternoon. We ended our day at Riscky's famous BBQ where mom wanted them all to try some real BBQ so she bought them all a kids meal and let them choose brisket or ribs . Yum! THen we looked through some of the shops. Non highlight for me was trying to get around on cobblestone streets with my knee scooter, I was really tired by the end of the day.

2-Hanging out with Wes at night . Ive never lived in the same house as my own brother which is pretty sad, but that s how it is andso it was fun to get to spend time with just him and our family. ANd since we lived there for two weeks it kind of started to feel like brother and sister. He is a fun guy, and he helped me fix our laptop, showed me a bunch of good music I'd never heard of, played/teased the kids and just was Wes.

3-The first weekend we were there Anna and Syd came and we had a quasi girls weekend. It was so fun to talk about parenting, life, good ideas, and its always just so comfortable. I wish we all lived much closer to each other. Us girls went thrift store shopping in DEnton and found all kinds of goods and ate at the Bowlery (delicious, organix place that Ive been craving ever since). THat night we all met up at the Mr. Marcus contest for Wes--he ended up winning the whole thing and it was a blast to be there in one fo the front rows with most of us siblings just hollering and being loud cheering for him. He did a great "evolution of dance" and came out for his swim portion on a hoverboard thingy with a muscle shirt and swim trunks. Hes just so likeable and funny and charismatic. We hung out that night at moms house after dinner at Freddy's burger joint. Saturday we were heading downtown and stopped at a thirft store on the way ra ndomly that had the best stuff. We ate, went and checked in at our hotel and then met the guys and Sarah at Torchys Tacos for dinner. IT was fun to hang out and talk and talk and talk that night and most of the morning the next day before heading to mom an d dad's church.

4-Lots of QT with Carl and COurt and their kids. We havent hung out with just their family and ours since they lived in Birmingham and we were in Atlanta. They are just so fun! There house with the pool, zipline and Bessie (bulldog) was so fun too! WE spent a few late afternoons playing at the park wherever one fo them had soccer practice.

5-Anytime I get to spend normal (non reunion) time with mom and dad is just priceless--to get to go into their room last at night for sc ripture study with Wes and usually end up laughing or talking and working around the house, helping mom do things and going places with her--I just love it. I feel so comfortable at their house (Wherever it is) and I always feel like everything is okay (taken care of kind of). It's fun to be 20 years removed from living at home and there are still so many things that feel the same by being there. I hope our kids feel like that for the rest of their lives too.

6-Perot museum--we ended up going one of teh first days we were there and it was raining. It was a really cool natural history museum. I am glad that the kids like going to places like that that are so fun and they are also learning a lot too. GREAT SCHOOL! :) We especially loved the engineering wing were you could drive robots, build marble runs, use Knex to build buildings that could withstand a "earthquake" and they had a sound booth to lay tracks on instruments or rythmic sounds.

7-It was so warm there! mom and dad have a woodsy backyard with tramp, rope swing over the ditch and lots of good places to make forts.

8- Wes stayed home one day and took the boys to go to a dirtbike shop, then we borrowed one from a friend and gave them rides. (Wes actually flipped the bike the last day we were there while he was doing a wheelie . Luckily he had on a helmet. It was still scary to watch it all happen) .

9-Zone action park . In true Ryan form, he got us tons of free points to do batting cages there which we did multiple different days. One day one of the managers gave the kids free cards to do the arcade for 2 hours unlimited . They had so m uch fun. One Blakes birthday we went to ride the go-karts which everyone had so much fun doing.

10-We stopped at Arches National Park on the way home and "hiked" (I didnt really) for a few hours and drove around seeing sights. It is absolutely gorgeous there. (Add pictures Amber!)

Parks, running a mile at Marcus High track, eating yummy tacos everyday almost, whiffle ball, and getting to see extended family too.