we did it differently this year...

... because we were nana-papa-less this labor day weekend.

there was no alpine slide rides or miniature golf for us... much to the boys' disappointment!!

so we tried jenny lake again...

thankfully, this time there was no ice or snow ... but fall was creeping in

even the bees are taking naps on the flowers!

why did we go all the way to florida?

soccer, of course!

this journey started about a year ago, with jacks and ryan trying out of an AYSO soccer team that would travel to west palm beach, florida in the summer of 2010 for a tournament with other AYSO teams from around the country.

jackson made the team! so it was outdoor fall soccer, two sessions of indoor winter soccer, outdoor spring soccer, practices, scrimmages... all leading to the AYSO national games on the international polo grounds. oh, and don't forget fundraising when we weren't playing soccer!!

the polo grounds blew my mind! it's a huge expanse of green grass that's so soft and perfect... or at least it was on the first day! get this: there were 24 teams in each of the 4 age divisions, boys and girls--almost 200 teams from the continental u.s., the virgin islands, and trinidad and tobago! in the blistering florida sun, 400 cleats tore that grass up pretty quick!

the little team from idaho played well, but sadly didn't win any of their 5 games. jackson played well, learned what playing his position can do, saw the game played beautifully by some really good players and had a BLAST!!

being completely without grace or atheltic ability, i had never been to a tournament--let alone a tournament of this size. and even tho it was steamy and hot, we were sunburned on top of sunburns, our team was losing... it was so much fun! i would do all of it again in a heart beat!

we're so proud of him for trying, staying with it and personally succeeding!!

so my mom comments...

... "You "aced" this class, so when will we see something new?? Looking forward to the next adventure of the Hentzens!"

i'd love to say that i've been so busy with school work that i haven't had time for blogging... but it was more that we were lovin' life this summer that i didn't carve out time for this!! and what were we doing? i better start at the beginning...

you know, when you're on a roller coaster, and you're slowly crawling up the first hill? yeah? well, that hill was our june! the boys got out of school, ryan had his birthday, we had soccer practices practically every day and it was still cold around here... but these things were all building up to the peak of our summer--jacks' soccer tournament in FLORIDA!

we flew over night (with a layover in phoenix to get our nana and papa!) and so we woke up in florida... first reaction? ugh... it's hot and why am i all sweaty?! we had a little conversation about humidity--and idaho's lack of it.

but God was good to us, and brought on a couple of cloudy and rainy days to keep us cool at disneyworld and epcot. and ryan says: i like this hot rain! it's the humidity, right?!

as i was saying, june was just the build up to the rest of the summer rushing by us at a frightening speed! we've had a great summer with our family and our friends... many great adventures

yes, mom... more adventure pictures to come!

(did you know that they just let crazy ducks attack you at disneyworld? in front of my kids, no less!)

homework

for some it's summer vacation and for others it's summer semester... for me, it’s school

my first assignment this semester is to introduce myself by using an interface i use a lot... so let's get into it:

i'm jenniffer...

that's right. no mispelling or finger-stutter... there are 2ns and 2fs there. i think it was the only way to make me a little different from the other gazillion jennifer's born in 1972.

i'm wife to dave and momma to jackson and ryan. if you want to know more about that, read down the blog...

i'm the head of adult services for the idaho falls public library--i don't know how i did it, but this is where i am. i love working with people and books... and bringing the two together!

i'm in my 8th semester and my 8th class at sjsu--getting my mlis... i'm contemplating taking two classes in the upcoming fall and spring semesters so i can be done by december 2011... but it sounds a bit daunting!

i'm not a techie, i don't know the names to all of the pieces and parts of the machine. i know how to play with the computer and usually get the results i want... and it pisses me off when it doesn't do what i think it should.

obviously, i blog and facebook, and i'd rather chat, im and text than actually picking up a phone and {gasp} speaking to another person!! i do love people and communicating. however, because i'm on the phone all day (or so it feels) i hate being on the phone when i'm not at work!

i've probably said too much... it's going to be an interesting semester!

i'm just a little jealous...

I’m a big fan of lego building, and that was one of the things I was most excited about when I had the little dudes…

you know, someone to build stuff with!!

so with the $50 in cash (birthday gift from nana and papa), ryan and jacks set off to toys r us, and returned an hour later with a big lego box and mere coins in his pocket. best part, ryan asked me to help him build his new house!

there’s a little backstory here, when I played with legos, I kept them in ziplock bags according to size and color. I tried to teach the boys this very handy technique… hmm… it didn’t stick. they have a lego lair of chaos in our basement. I can’t handle the bedlam of not knowing where all of the red pieces are, not to mention to tiny special pieces. so, I don’t play with them. I know it sounds “a bit” anal retentive, but I do enjoy shelving books for a living…

anyway, when ryan asked me to play, I started to organize all of his pieces and parts.

he humored me, and thanked me for my help… and even kinda agreed that it was handy. but all I could think about was looking for all of these bitty special pieces in the lego lair…

so, back to the jealousy…

check out the detail of this house!!

lawn mower,

basketball hoops...

… it’s awesome!!

kinda like my kid... happy birthday, ry-man!!

memories of memorial day...

for the last few years, my little family has made the trip known to us as the "journey mecca" for the long memorial day weekend… we road trip to denver, my hometown

it's kind of a bittersweet trip because it's so short...

we never get to see everyone we want...

the rockies always lose when we’re in coors field...

and there is always something different, a change i wasn't prepared for...

like my granny who looks awesome for 81... but 81?!? how is that possible? I have strong memories of her towering over me with her afterwork fresca-vodka cocktail… amd that’s not her anymore

and my city isn’t MY CITY anymore. i’ve been gone so long! it’s growing and absorbing little towns, making it one continuous mass of humanity from ft collins to colorado springs... where are the open spaces of my youth?

(i know they are there, but they are few and far between it seems to this girl!)

and this is the killer... my boys are the BIG boys!

i don't notice it so much here, i noticed it at this sweet bbq (out in one of the last open space communities left) where there were all of these little guys and gals looking up at jacks and ryan. now i had to worry about them being too rambunctious for the little ones--not so much that they needed me to rescue them. then i saw that for years i have been using my guys as a buffer for iffy social situations. i felt lost with my little anchors...

however, this bbq had some of the most wonderful hostswho made me see that some of us are small and some of us are big, some of us are babies and some are grannies… but we all grow everyday… all of us learn something, even if it is nothing more than never let dave hold your popsicle!

for more pictures of this beautiful place in the city, check out my sweet friend’s blog: http://sweetpeaandbeans.blogspot.com/

win or lose...

... it's always a good day with friends at coors field!!

footballer

35 days...

a good mother's day...

the boys took me to grand teton park for mother's day...

there was snow everywhere and jenny lake was mostly frozen

which makes sense because jenny lake was formed by a giant glacier that came thru these mountains

and decided to stay in this spot

and after both guys have been thru 4th grade idaho history, they were both very pleased to inform me that the lake got it's name from beaver dick's wife... who knew?!