Last Minute Reminders
1. Reunion starts at 9 am Mountain Daylight Saving Time
2. Cost per person for food is $10 total
3. Remember to bring auction items
4. Remember to prepare for the talent show
5. The forecast for Saturday May 28th is a morning low of 61 degrees, afternoon high of 90 degrees.
6. For those wanting to attend church on Sunday, the chapel across the street from the St George Temple, to the east, is a convenient location, 9 am, 11 am, and 1 pm blocks. Sacrament meeting is first for all three block times.
7. The park has a large covered pavilion where we will eat, talk, talent and auction.
8. I recommend you bring a couple of camp/lawn/patio chairs if you have them.
9. Bring cash, if you can, to pay for food and auction items. There no longer exists a Jensen Family account, so checks would need to be made out to Rex Jensen--cash would be better.
10. If you have any questions, trouble finding Cox Park, or other problems, email me (rgjense@gmail.com) or text me 435-319-4518, or call me.
11. It looks like very few people would be able to do a temple session on Friday evening so we will forego that event. Friday is Glenn Jensen's birthday, he would be 98, so give him a thought on that day.
12. If you have read this far I recommend you read to the bottom of this post which will give you all the information there is regarding the reunion.
New Start Time
We've moved up the reunion start time to 9 am. This still leaves time for those who may want to do a hike or two in the morning before the reunion begins, and it gives us time to fit everything in the time allowed at the park.
Getting to Cox Park
Park address is 900 East 1000 South, St George. From South Bluff Street (where all the hotels are), go north to 700 South, turn right and go about a mile to 900 East (just past the freeway), turn right on 900 East and drive to the end of the street (about 3 blocks), the street dead ends at Cox Park.
If you are staying at any hotels on the north end of St George. Take River Road south (it parallels I-15 for quite a ways), turn right on 700 South, a couple of miles for you, (Harmons is on this corner), turn left on 900 East, drive to end of street, Cox Park is on your right.
If you are unfamiliar with St George, St George Blvd, the main east west street is 100 North. Bluff Street follows the lava ridge on the west of St George and is about 400 West. River Road is the main north south street on the east of I-15 and is about 1200 East. 700 South is the main east west street on the south of St George. So find 700 South, then find 900 East, turn south (you can't turn north) and drive to the end of the street. If you trust GPS, use it. If you get lost, call me (435-319-4518)
Temple Session??
We may also try to do a temple session Friday evening but Friday's are very busy at the temple, the 5:20 session is typically the lightest session, but many of you may still be traveling. Let me know if you would like to do a session together, if there is enough interest, we'll plan it, if not we may let it pass (rgjense@gmail.com).
Talent Show
Don't forget to prepare your talent; each family (Sharon, Rex, Beth, David) is allocated 15 minutes (you won't get the gong if you go over), but we want every family
to participate and show their stuff.
Sports and Sports Gear
We will have basketballs, soccer balls, kick balls, frisbees, and wiffle balls and bats. But you are welcome to bring your own sports gear if you want. There are tennis courts so if you want to play tennis you will need to bring your own rackets and balls.
Reunion Auction
Remember to bring auction items. Auctions are a lot of fun so everyone bring some items to auction: baked goods, canned goods (that you made), memorabilia, handcrafted items, antiques, or anything that will sell. The auction proceeds will help fund future auctions.
Reunion Schedule for Saturday May 28, 2016
9 am -- Gather/Church history library/play times/Sports, games
12pm -- Lunch/Missionary reports
1 pm -- Glenn Jensen History; Sharon, Rex, Beth, David, Kyle, etc
2 pm -- Talent show
3 pm -- Sports, etc
4 pm -- Sports, water fights, etc
5 pm -- Dinner
6 pm -- Auction
7 pm -- Family Council/Plan next reunion – More games/sports
Reunion Meals
We are going to have both lunch and dinner catered. We will have pizza, bread sticks, cookies, and homemade root beer for lunch. We can do this for $5 per person...and no one has to prepare food or do dishes!
For the dinner meal we will have an Hawaiian style meal prepared by Honolulu Grill here in St George. This meal will include three or four meats, noodles, rice, cake and ice cream; again, this can be done for $5 per person. So the total food cost will be $10 per person.
Family History Table
At the reunion, we will have a "Family History" table setup where anyone in the family can place printed material, journal, life story, books, scrapbooks, or any other writings that attendees may view (not necessarily take). Some items will be available to take or purchase, but that will be up to the author of the material whether to give it away to anyone for free or to request payment (like for printed books, etc).
We encourage everyone to bring something that will be of historical interest to the family.
Cox Park Facilities -- 900 East 1000 South, St George
Here is a breakdown of the facilities at Cox Park:
1. A full basketball court (basket on each end of the paved court)with viewing benches
2. A sand volleyball court
3. Two tennis courts
4. A playground for young children, with benches for parents to sit and watch children
5. Two bathrooms (both are unisex and lockable)
6. A large pavilion
7. Two drinking fountains
8. Two large fields for frisbee, soccer, "kids run around" (a famous Glenn Jensen line)
9. There is a sidewalk that circles the entire park
10. Several large shade trees
11. A small parking lot, but plenty of parking on the street. The park is located at the end of 900 East (no through traffic) in a very nice neighborhood
Sunday
No reunion activities are scheduled for Sunday or Monday but for those staying over Sunday and want to attend church, our ward meets in the chapel across the street from the St George Temple. We meet at 11 am and often have large numbers of visitors on holidays. We'd love to have you join us.
Local Activities
1. Temple Quarry Trailhead: The St George Temple is made of sandstone but the foundation and footings are made of volcanic basalt stone quarried from the lava ridge to the west of St George. This trail is about a two mile round trip and takes you to the west side of the ridge where the stone was cut and hauled to the temple. It is a mostly level hike, a good maintained trail. Plan at least one hour for this hike.
2. Pioneer Park: to the north of St George on the sandstone cliff is the word "DIXIE" painted on the cliff face. Pioneer Park is located near Dixie Rock. There are numerous hiking trails, from a quarter mile in length to seven miles round trip. Pioneer Park adjoins The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and some of the hikes go into the reserve. It is a beautiful area to hike. They have also built an impressive living desert garden with all the local plants (and even the Virgin River)recreated to instruct about the area. You could easily spend a couple of hours at this park...or longer if you take a long hike.
3. Snow Canyon State Park: If you have not visited this park, it is worth the time and effort. It is located to the north of Ivins and is a beautiful Navajo Sandstone park. You can drive through the park (there is a fee)or you can walk into it or hike trails that begin inside the park.
4. Zion National Park: Zion is always worth the 40 minute drive (there is an entrance fee of $25 per vehicle)but the scenery is spectacular with hikes ranging from a half mile to several miles. Shuttle busses now transport visitors through the park (no additional fee).
5. River Walk: There is also a paved trail on either side of the Virgin River that can be accessed from almost anywhere between Washington and Bloomington. This is a level, paved trail that is very popular with local joggers, hikers and bikers. The hike can be as long as you want it to be but the St George section between I-15 and River Road is about two miles, one way.
6. Cox Park Walk: The park where we will be having the reunion has a sidewalk completely around the park, so walking is also an option at Cox Park
Reunion to feature Glenn H. Jensen and a reunion Auction
The 2016 Jensen Reunion will focus on Glenn Jensen. We will have some presentations about his life and contributions during his life. To honor him we will also have an auction. Glenn Jensen began the Logandale Auction as a way to fund the youth programs in the ward (before the church provided uniform funding for wards). The auction became a huge success and raised tens of thousands of dollars through the life of the auction. The auction featured home baked goods, home made quilts, livestock, sides of beef and a dune buggy.
We want everyone to bring auction items this year, old memorabilia, baked goods, canned goods, services, or anything you think will sell. The proceeds will help fund the next Jensen Reunion.
Reunion 2016. The Jensen Family Reunion for 2016 has been scheduled for May 28, 2016 (Memorial Day weekend).
Hotel Reservations
If you have not already made hotel reservations in St George you should do so immediately. St George typically sells out all available hotel rooms on that weekend, it is a busy weekend in the city so make reservations now.
Reunion Location
Preliminary plans have already been made. The reunion will be held at Cox Park in St George, Utah. The Park is located at 1000 South 900 East in St George. The park is located kind of at the bottom center (shaded area)and there is only one street that accesses the park--900 East.
This park has a large pavilion, restrooms, a water fountain, a children's playground, basketball court, sand volleyball court, tennis courts, and two large grass fields for ultimate frisbee/soccer/games/etc. There are lots of mature shade trees. We have this park from 9 am to 9 pm on Saturday. So people can plan on gathering at the park around 11am. We will have lunch at noon.
We have not yet firmed up all activities and the schedule for the day, but both lunch and dinner will be eaten at the park. This is a public park and it's possible other people may also be at the park but the park people indicated that when people see a large crowd at a park they usually move on and go somewhere else. I don't think it will be much of an issue.
Talent Show
We are going to have a talent show and we want each family (Sharon, Rex, Beth, David) to take about 15-20 minutes per family for the talent show. This can be anything you wish to do. You can have several individuals perform or a family presentation or anything you like.
Missionary Reports
We have also scheduled time for the mothers of missionaries serving missions to give a brief report on their missionary. A new generation of missionaries are now serving from this family, this is something we have not had the past few reunions, so mothers should plan on taking a few minutes for a report.
Church History Library Contributions
We will also have a short period of time for us to contribute information to the Church History Library. A representative of the Church History Library will come to the reunion and facilitate the contributions, record them, take possession of them and deliver them to the Church History Library in Salt Lake City. This can be journals, life stories, photos or anything that provides a history of an individual, a family or any part thereof. Mission journals would be appropriate, personal journals, life histories, photos, etc. The preferred method of contribution is digital, (flash drive is preferred, but CD or DVD are also good). But printed copies of any of the above are also fine. For photos, digital is still preferred, but the old fashioned print is also fine. If you still have questions about this, let me know. I believe this is a unique opportunity to get Jensen Family information into the Church History Library where it will then be available to anyone to read and research.
Also, if you have not made hotel reservations you should do so soon. St George typically fills up completely on that weekend. You should not expect to drive into town and find a room, you probably won't find one so make reservations early. If you need help locating a hotel, let me know. But Cox Park is on the south end of town so all of the hotels on the south end of town (and there are many) would be close. But even Green Springs Drive (north St George) would only be a five or ten minute drive to Cox Park.
Temple Session
Although we know most family members will be driving (or flying) to St George on Friday, we have contemplated doing a temple session Friday evening at the St George Temple. Friday, May 27th is Glenn Huber Jensen's birthday (he would be 98 years old). He and Alice Jensen were ordinance workers at the St George, Utah Temple and this would be a way to honor him. We'll let you know more on this later. We currently are not planning any reunion activities on Sunday or Monday.
If you have any questions or concerns about the reunion, please let me know.
Email: rgjense@gmail.com
Cell: 435-319-4518
Rex
