Thanks be to God

Yesterday in my scripture study I read the following scripture:

1 Nephi 15:15 

"And then at that day will they not rejoice and give praise unto their everlasting God, their rock and their salvation? Yea, at that day, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine?  Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God?"

This part, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine, gave me the reminder that, "Yes! I can receive both strength and nourishment from the true vine every single moment of every day!". This is what I believe it means to call upon the name of the Lord. He is the true vine and we are the branches. Will we not draw upon Him for strength and nourishment? Yes, yes I will. Thank Thee.

 

A New Year a New Beginning!

Well, hello there! Now that we have a missionary out, my heart and mind have been thinking about ways to keep our family connected. I have had a few different blogs over the years. The most recent, AllenTimesandSeasons, was recently totally erased because I didn’t pay the domain name fee. It was so sad! I had the prompting to look up Blogger and saw that the blogs I started when Seth was a baby were still intact! Now what do you think of that?!

In an effort to stay rooted in what has stood the test of time, I’d like to share our family updates here, along with personal insights and spiritual understandings received through the power of the Holy Ghost. Returning to this space feels especially timely as we step into a new year—happy 2026!

Over the past few days during my scripture study, the Spirit has filled my mind with deeper understandings. In short, the message of The Book of Mormon is an invitation—to ask, to seek, and to knock—with a soft heart and eyes to see (1 Nephi 15:11), and to do so with a sincere heart and real intent (Moroni 10:4).

When we do, the Lord does—and will—manifest the truthfulness of all things unto us (Moroni 10:5). It’s true. He, our loving Heavenly Father, will show His loving plan to us.

Even if others don’t see it. Even if others don’t believe it. Even when there is pain, heartache, and hard things in the world—the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true. And it is written so clearly for us; as we seek with soft hearts and allow the eyes of our understanding to be opened, we will have understanding.

MY BIRTHDAY

Seth and I had a fun and busy day! We missed daddy and are grateful for all our friends and family who made my birthday such a fun and special day.

My 27th Birthday started out with an early morning trip to the airport to drop Tony off so he could catch his 7:30 AM flight to L.A., CA. He had to fly to L.A. to take the first part of his Board 2 Exam. This is an 8 hour practicum test which he took from 6 PM to 2 AM Ohio time. (Just a note: I talked to him this morning before he boarded the plane to come home and he said the test went well and he's glad that it's over with. I am glad it's over with too. I am also grateful he is on his way home safe and sound. I am grateful that he has accomplished yet another big milestone in getting closer to achieving his/our goal of graduating from Medical School this coming May. Way to go! Thanks for making the trek out to L.A. and back in just two days. I love you.)

When I arrived back home from the airport I decided to go back to bed until Seth woke up. He woke up 8:15 , ate breakfast, and then we headed out the door for a run with my friend Lonica. We ran to Aiden's house (Aiden is a two and a half year old little boy whom I tend once a week). Aiden hopped in the stroller with Seth and we headed back to my place to have a sidewalk chalk party in our back yard!

Aiden and Seth stayed outside coloring for almost an hour and a half! Not bad for such little guys.

Pretty impressive art work if you ask me!

My good friend Jessica came over bearing (my favorite dessert) key lime bars, a birthday card, and a warm birthday wish!

Around lunch time my friend Heather dropped in to spend the rest of the afternoon with me. Soon after Heather came over my dear friend Andrea surprised me with tacos (my favorite food) from Chipotle for lunch!

After lunch it was time for the boys to take their naps. Much to my dismay both of the boys decided to only sleep for 45 minutes a piece. So with naps done for the day all too soon we decided to put on a movie and just relax together for a bit. Marry Poppins (one of my favorite movies) was my movie of choice.

Seth snuggled right up to Heather to watch Mary Poppins.

After our movie the boys played with toys while Heather and I just talked and Heather gave me a little gift. Here is Heather's darling wrapping job.

Here's what was inside....a hand made (by Heather) hot pad! In OSU colors scarlet and grey, this is certainly going to be put to good use for many years to come.

While we were at the house a special deliverly arrived from Chris, Sarah, and Joco. They sent me a box of chocolate covered apples and strawberries, along with a Happy Birthday balloon!

As the day started to wind down I recieved calls from my parents, sister, grandparents, friends Nicole and Ann, as well as my in-laws. I even recieved a singing telegram "Jeppesen style" from Kelly and Andrea! Jonas didn't sing but he sure did look cute! Thanks for singing to me the past few years. I have absolutely loved it! Thanks guys!

After a yummy french dip sandwich dinner by Candace, April and Jeremy Johnson brought over chips and salsa from Chipotle (my favorite chips and salsa), and Snickers ice cream (my favorite ice cream). I enjoyed chips and salsa as my snack after dinner while they ate their dinner.

After dinner we ate our ice cream with the special carmel birthday brownies that Candace made me (which brownies are now officially my favorite).

My good friend Lonica knew how much I love celebrating my birthday. She didn't want me to waste all my birthday festivities on one day so she took me to Cafe Da Vinci (my favorite place to go out to eat) for a yummy Italian lunch the day after my birthday! We had a great time and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Lonica also gave me a beautiful blue scarf that I plan on using to stay warm and cozy all winter long. (Sorry, Seth the waitress didn't get in you the picture!)

My birthday was full of my favorite people, food, places and things. I am grateful for the gifts, cards, phone calls, and visits I received from friends and family. I truly felt loved. A big thank you and hug to my mom and dad whose love made my life possible in the first place.

Let's Get This Party Started!

It's already been two weeks since my parents, Anne, and Tanner came out to Ohio for a 4 day visit. Grandpa and Grandma Tuttle flew in Wednesday Sept. 24 in the evening and Anne and Tanner flew in Thursday Sept. 25 in the afternoon. Tanner had just proposed to Anne the night before they flew in to see us. It was fun to meet Tanner for the first time, see them together, and hear all about their engagement story. The quick version of his proposal extraordinaire is that he proposed to Anne on a movie set, set in Paris France. They filmed and acted out a little scene that Tanner had written and at the end Tanner surprised Anne by proposing to her! They captured the whole thing on film and we had the pleasure of watching their movie and were all very impressed with how creative and romantic it was- just the way Anne would like it.



Since Anne had already celebrated her birthday with a bang and some BLING we decided that the next best thing to her being engaged right before her birthday was to go BOWLING on her birthday. So on Friday, Sept. 26th we started the day off with a run, then we went bowling, ate dinner at North Star Cafe,' and ended it with some cake, ice cream, and shopping at Tuttle Mall.




On Saturday, Sept. 27th Tanner and Anne (although avid BYU fans) put on OSU t-shirts and yelled "O-H-I-O" once or twice as they "cheered" on the Buckeyes in OSU's first home game of the Big Ten Conference verses Wisconsin.



Before the game we went to the OSU pep-rally affectionatley named the "Skull Session" where my mom and I got down and danc'n as the marching band showed their stuff!



We didn't get any pictures of us dancing at the Skull Session but here are some of us inside the stadium (a.k.a. the Shoe, which seats around 106,000 crazy buckeye fanatics!).

!

We didn't get to sit together in the same section but my parents, Anne, and Tanner are there out there somewhere.



Sunday morning we said goodbye to everyone. We are grateful for the time we had with them. Seth loves his granparents and is excited to see them again soon!

On Cloud Nine

If you have ever wondered (or perhaps forgotten) what it's like to be "on cloud nine" then you need to spend a day with my dear sister Anne and her fiance' Tanner Brown. We had the pleasure of spending three days with them last weekend when Anne and Tanner flew out to Ohio to see us and attend an OSU Football game. We were reminded of how sweet true love is as we watched them gaze into each others eyes and not to mention witness how hard it was for them to keep their hands off each other! We love Tanner Brown and think that Anne and Tan make a perfect match.

I'm grateful

I am grateful for our quiet peaceful house as our little man sleeps. I am grateful for the sun as he shines outside in the bright blue sky. I am grateful for the cool autumn breeze that's coming through our windows. I am grateful for the peace and plenty that abound in our home and in our country. I am truly blessed and I am truly grateful.

NO CAMERA IN HAND, boo, hoo

If you are thinking to yourself, "Where have all the pictures gone, Jenny?", wonder no more. The reason for the lack of pics is because we do not currently have a camera of our own. We have been borrowing and otherwise haggling our friends to take pictures for us for the past month. Thankfully, they have all agreed to do so and now all we need to do is upload them on our computer.

Never fear the pictures will again soon appear as we have plans for buying a camera this month!