The Big 25

I hit the quarter century mark on July 7th.  It was a fun day full of simple things.  It fell between Lake Powell and Bear Lake so I mostly just wanted to relax and spend time with my boys.  Alice made my day by transporting an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen all the way from Provo.  They are my favorite!  Logan made me a yummy breakfast and took care of Jack most of the day.  So many loved ones sent me messages, cards and little gifts.  Mckell took me for a birthday ride bash on her motorcycle.

Where is my hand sanitizer?

Jack was born in December, the height of communicable disease season.  So we were super paranoid, didn't take him to church for 3 months and hand sanitized all the time.  Then Jack turned into an energetic little boy and I just can't keep up with his diseased little hands so I just go with it now.  Logan's parent's house is really just a fun zoo.  Between the kittens, cats, dogs, horses, and other season animals that have been caught on the farm, there is always something to pet, squeeze or torture.  Then we have our tadpoles and rats.  Jack pretty much always has tadpole hands and he has recently taken great interest in our rats (now rat) and I will randomly find the cage open and Jack dragging a rat around.  And we found a baby bird that fell out of our tree.  He only lasted a day though.  So far no ringworm so hopefully it will stay that way.

Tadpoles.  Jack has tadpole hands about 3/4 of the day.

We saw this baby bird fall about 20 feet to the ground.

Why not pet a diseased bird?

Jack driving his car on the kitten.

Metamorphosis

I know this is lame, but we love watching tadpoles turn into frogs.  We moved our tads into a nice open container and made them a nice home.  We were mostly successfully except for the fact that they were exactly at Jack's level which made for easy torture.  He plays with them like they are his little toys, moving them here, taking them for a car ride there,  throwing giant boulders to splash on them (thankfully there was only one fatality).  He also loves to take the ones that have turned into frogs and to make them hop.

Upgrading the tadpoles to a better home.

Jack was a great helper.

This little guy is almost a frog.

Still a tadpole.  Loser.

Splashing.

I spy.  Can you find 4 frogs?

Fourth Fun

The Fourth of July was filled with activities.  It was fun, but we were definitely burned out at the end of the weekend.  Logan and I had just got back from Lake Powell.  First was the dinner/auction and fireworks.  We met up with some friends at the park and then later headed out to the high school for the fireworks.  First, we got a great seat up front by Logan's siblings, but once Jack started crying we sat back by my parents and he seemed to enjoy them more.  The next day we were up early to hit the parade.  Jack caught on quick that you pick up the candy and put it in the bag until he figured out it was candy and then it always made it to his mouth before it hit the bag.  We went to the park for the festivities.  Jack still isn't quite old enough for most of the stuff there and we spent most our time on the free playground which was fine with us.  Then we headed to Kim and Kaye Pickett's for the mini Pickett reunion.  We ate lunch and went to the farm to look at a deer.  Haha.  That evening we headed up to Provo for the Stadium of Fire.  Brad Paisley and David Archuleta  were the talent.  They were fun to watch.  I made us all matching t shirts which were a hit. 

Jack and Charlie got to hang out a bit at the Inouye Institute of Arts Camp.

The fireworks at the high school.  We sat really close and it was too much for Jack to handle.  He was happier when we moved many hundred feet away.

The Gunnison parade.  Logan and Jack with my parents and Aaron and Tina's family.

Its amazing how quickly kids catch on to things, especially when they involve candy.

My second cousin once removed, Denise Frandsen.

The Little Miss float put on by Logan's family.

Me, Seidi and Mckell.  Our final fairwell before Seidi moved.

Stadium of Fire!  Not much of a group shot but you get the idea.  Lafe just had his wisdom teeth out.

We were happy Aaron and Tina got to join us at the last minute.

Mir, Gracy, and Hannah

Logan and Lafe

Our sweet t shirts I made.  It's half Brad Paisley's face and half David Archuleta's face.  A couple people asked where they could get one.

Christenson Crew

I have created this public blog so you know when I update.  Lots of people with private blogs do this and I appreciate it so I thought I would give it a try.  Here it is:  thechristensoncrew.blogspot.com

Lovely Lloyds

Our good friends from Logan came down to stay with us.  We thought of all the amazing things to do in Gunnison and wanted to show them the country life.  We came up with throwing a TV or toilet off the White Chalk Cliffs, but I don't think you can get away with that anymore.  Our next plan was to go to the Mormon Miracle Pageant.  I love the pageant and I feel they enjoyed it too.  This was the first time I have watched it since I have been a mother and man did I cry!  I think Logan may have been embarrassed.  The next day we did some fishing at Yardley's Pond.  To our disappointment, they don't stock the pond with fish anymore but we still managed to catch some crawdads and a snake (well Logan did).  Then the Lloyd's surprised us with a invite to Lake Powell the next week.  We can't say no to Lake Powell so we dropped Jack off at the Grandma's and off we went.  There was 30 people on the houseboat.  Thankfully it was a very nice, giant house boat so it didn't feel crowded.  Dani's parent's, the Davis's, and their friends, The Merrill's, were so kind to feed us delicious gourmet meals every night.   Seriously, we feasted.   Justin Bieber even made an appearance on the boat ( cardboard cutout Justin Bieber).  We finished the  trip with their annual Lake Powell Olympics.  We were divided up into teams and they gave us team shirts.  Then each team was timed in a crazy obstacle course.  It was pretty funny to watch.  Unfortunately neither I or Logan took home the trophey.

Us with the Lloyds at the Mormon Miracle Pageant

Nate trying to overcome his intense fear of snakes.  He handled it well as you can see.

We went fishing.  We didn't catch any fish but Logan caught two crawdads and a snake.

Dani trying to conduct our group through a game of Mafia.

Me and Dani

On a boat ride.  Logan all tuckered out.

Cliff diving.  I don't do that.

So I don't have much skill in the way of water sports, but after about 10 tries, I did learn to wake surf behind the boat.  And of course in this important moment in my life I didn't have a camera so here is my reenactment.

We did a small hike to this cool sink hole.  

My team for the Lake Powell Olympics

The Lake Powell Champs

Our group

Boats that Float

Logan and I enjoy boating but unfortunately neither of our families have one, have had one, or will ever have one.  Thankfully we have many nice friends and extended family who do and are nice enough to share.  Justin and Ryker took us out to the Gunnison Res a couple weeks ago.  Our first attempt was a failure because the boat was sinking, but we returned the next day with the problem fixed.  Jack has never been on a boat and even though he loves them from afar, I wasn't sure how he would react.  Luckily, he loved it and the whole way home and the next day he kept saying, "boat" "fast" "fun".  So I gather he liked it.

Justin was our boat captain.

Ryker wake boarding.