The Final Chapter - The arrival of our baby....It's a BOY!

Thankfully, our sweet baby boy came 17 days after arriving back home! Little Samuel Vernon Jensen is our newest little angel! He was born December 6th at 6:36am at Ashland Community Hospital! Two days before my birthday! He weighed 7 lbs. 14oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long! The same Dr. Jani Rollins has delivered all 4 of our children and she said I am the first Mom that she has delivered 4 children with! Everyone in the family can't wait for their turn to hold him and love on him! Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read our blog and enjoy our adventures right along with us! I will do my best to continue to blog and keep a record of our family happenings. Our blog will now be the old blog I started awhile back and I will start again...www.ourjensenjourney.blogspot.com Our love to you all!

Santa Samuel, Our Christmas Baby!






Evan & Dad with Sam right after his birth. Evan stayed at the hospital with us and was there to meet Sam right after he was born. Evan is a great big brother!




Emilie loving on her new baby brother...she's such a great little mommy!


Samuel with the beautiful quilt his Grandma Judy made him!


Nana with baby Samuel after his first tubbie

Cropper Medical Bio Skin Executive Retreat

A couple of days after arriving home, Steve and I took off to Sun River to enjoy a wonderful couple of days at a luxurious home in Sun River, Oregon near Bend. Steve had meetings and I just got to relax and enjoy a big cozy bed! It was AMAZING! Especially compared to the Winnebago quarters. :) I even went on a bike ride with the other wives in the snow!

Cropper Medical Folks playing games and having fun!

Arriving back home in Ashland, Oregon

We arrived back home in Ashland and spent our first night home parked in front of our new house in Ashland! It was our last night sleeping in "The Winnie-Jack" and I have to admit it was definitely bitter-sweet! We had such an amazing time on this road trip!

Here's our transition picture back to reality and the real world. Winnebago on the left with the kids and the new house in the back.


Homeschooling in an RV was quite a unique experience and a lot of fun, but we didn't waste any time getting the kids back in public school. The very next morning that we arrived home, the boys woke up in the RV and were off to their first day back to Bellview Elementary to meet their teachers and see their friends.

San Fransisco Bay Area

Our very last stop on the trip before heading home to Oregon, was a quick stop in the SF Bay Area to meet up with Nana (Sandie's Mom) and trade cars. She let us tow her car and she took care of our Suburban while we were gone. Thanks Nana!

Fresno, California

On the way home we stopped for a quick surprise visit to my sister Brenda's in Fresno. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins! They fed us a delicious home cooked meal and we enjoyed catching up for a few hours.

Jensen's and Osborne's with The Winnie


Cousin Ashley & Emilie

Grand Canyon South Rim

As we were nearing the end of our trip, we were driving fairly close to the Grand Canyon and of course, being the adventurous family that we are, we couldn't resist a trip to the Grand Canyon even if we could only spend an hour there! After all, Steve had to buy one of those National Parks passes at the beginning of the trip when we went to Yellowstone and we still hadn't got our money's worth yet! It was chilly and I am very pregnant at this point but we still enjoyed a fun little hike along the south rim at sunset.

Phoenix, Arizona

We were really excited to visit with Sandie's sister in Phoenix over the weekend as we were passing through. The kids loved playing with their cousin Morgan!

Cousin Morgan & Emilie reading buddies


Cousin Morgan and Emilie laughing on the bed!


Morgan and Emilie had a sleepover in The Winnie! Morgan read books and Emilie crashed!

Gilbert, Arizona

Phoenix Sunset with Hot Air Balloon


Steve and Arizona rep Ted Jennings heading off to work


Emilie found an instant friend in Maren while we stayed with The Jennings


Alison Jennings and Sandie Jensen played with our kids while the Dad's worked.


Alison made delicious cookies with the kids and they were so excited when they got to lick the spoons!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

On our way to Santa Fe we had another classic experience in the Winnie Jack. We were driving down the highway, and out of nowhere something flies off the front of the Winnie, hits the windshield and then the ground. We hear it hit the ground and we all thought..."What was that?" Steve pulled over on the side of the highway to get out and run back to see what had happened. On his way up the highway running, a police officer puts his lights on and pulled over to Steve. Seth was with him running along side with only one shoe on because the anticipation of what had flown off the RV was so great and he could only find one shoe! Thankfully, the police officer was pulling over to help, but all Emmy could see off in the distance was a police car picking up her daddy and taking him away! We were hurrying to get our shoes on so we could go find out what was going on! Emilie was relieved to see Dad and Seth coming back in the police car unharmed with a piece of the grill that had flown off! What a hoot!

We were hoping for warm weather in New Mexico...but no way! It was snowing!

50,000 Miles!

The Winnie Jack Odometer hitting 50k miles! We have to celebrate the fact that we have gone over 10,000 miles and visited over 30 states in almost 3 months!

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Our Jensen Totem Pole


Classic Winnie Footage

Texas The Lone Star State

We came into Houston, Texas first where we attended church Sunday morning. Then after church we visited the Houston LDS Temple. We headed off then to San Antonio where we enjoyed swimming in the heated pool and relaxing in the hot tub. Steve worked in San Antonio on Monday and then we drove that same night to Austin. We enjoyed some delicious Chuy's Mexican Food there but wished we could've done more exploring...in fact, I realize I must be getting tired because I don't have many pictures of us in Texas and I couldn't muster up the energy to take the kids to see the historic Alamo Mission...anyway, after Austin it was right on to Dallas and then Oklahoma City...Wow! That was a busy week...it's no wonder why I'm tired!

Kids at Houston, TX LDS Temple


Emmy with pretty Temple flowers


Daddy's Little Pumpkin

New Orleans, Louisiana

Steve couldn't wait to take us out to enjoy some delicious, authentic Cajun grub! After serving in Louisiana as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he developed a real love for the food and culture of Louisiana.


Em with her little alligator friend


Enjoying delicious french doughnuts called beignets and hot chocolate before the parade starts...


The Krewe of Boo 2008 New Orleans Parade was the first Halloween Parade ever in New Orleans! (At least the first official one!) They had extravagant floats designed by some of the same people who design the Mardi Gras Floats!


The Jensen Family after the New Orleans Halloween Parade


Halloween has never been this exciting and may never be this exciting again! Check out the loot from the parade! Emmy caught most of the stuffed animals and the boys got a few too...we also got cups, toys, and lots of neat beads!

Happy Halloween!

Miramar Beach and Destin, Florida

Em and Mom getting our feet wet!


Evan and Seth posing for a picture for Mom...what they were really doing on the beach was playing football with one of their shoes since they don't have a real one on this trip...playing football together is one of their favorite things to do!


Emilie admiring her first ever french braid in the mirror of the little Winnie's bathroom


Soaking up the sun in Miramar Beach, FL


A Tribute to Smoothie King! Steve's favorite place to eat....and the rest of us love it too! Going to all of our favorite stores and restaurants on this trip has been a real perk since none of them are in southern Oregon! Besides Smoothie King, we have loved going to Panera, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Cracker Barrel.

Tannehill State Park, Alabama

We happened upon one of the neatest events of the year for the locals in Birmingham, Alabama and surrounding areas. In fact, this event draws thousands of people from all over Alabama to celebrate Halloween at Tannehill State Park. Families start to prepare 1-2 months in advance by parking their RV's and Fifth Wheels at Tannehill to elaborately decorate for Halloween. They set up camp and live there for a month or two and have big parties with lots of good grub while they watch football on their big screen tv's that they set up outside their RV's.


Seth and Evan in front of the train at Tannehill State Park

Seth as Anakin Skywalker, Emmy as Tinkerbell, Evan as a Vampire


Tinkerbell Emmy


Besides a fun Halloween event, Tannehill is known for its historical Ironworks Mill. Steve gave the kids a history lesson about the Civil War while we visited one of the mills where they made the canons and guns for the Confederate army.

Salisbury, North Carolina

Riding the Train at Dan Nicholas State Park


Emilie loved playing with Don McCall's daughter Eva while Steve worked with Don in North Carolina


Rocking out in front of the Cracker Barrel, one of the kid's favorite restaurants on our trip