JUNE- The Christensen Reunion

Our darling daughters gracefully dancing to Swan Lake was only one of the many highlights of the Christensen Reunion this year.  The talent show showcased a variety of entertainment, everything from ballet, to playing instruments, to skits, and songwriting.  Oh yeah, and who could forget Amara's talent of showing everyone how to properly fold her blankey?  We had yummy food, played lots of games (everything from pool and air hockey to marshmallow wars and sword fights), and even relived part of family history as we acted out scenes from the lives of Steve's ancestry.  We have fun every time we get together with family!  This year we gathered at a beautiful town home in Midway, Utah for a few days in June.  My camera took only about 5 pictures before it ran out of batteries, but Steve's sister was diligent at taking pics and she let me download them.  I made a slideshow of some of my favorite photos.  Just click below.

Digital slideshow created with Smilebox

A Blissful 8 Years...

Earlier this month, we celebrated our 8th anniversary.  I wanted a picture of us on our special day, so our dear photographer and Kindergartener, Lily, put her camera skills to work and turned out this beauty.  Both our heads made it in the picture, so it was a keeper.

So, this year I wanted some killer-good food for our anniversary, and going out to eat at one of the rural-ville restaurants around here just would not appease my standards of quality and flavor.  So, I began to brainstorm appetizers that I love and after making that list, I decided that I would just make 3 appetizers and we would eat that as our dinner along with a specialty drink. 

The Menu:

• Crab-stuffed mushrooms (with 3 options for the cheese melted over the top- pepperjack, swiss, or cheddar)
• Vegetable Egg Rolls
• Chicken Queliguin Lettuce Wraps (jalapenos for the heat)
• Brazillian Limeade

Food of this caliber is a labor of love and that's what I wanted to share with my honey and our sweet children.  I spent 3 hours making it all, and it was worth it.  Everyone LOVED dinner.  As a side note, I got to break open my first coconut all by myself just for the Queliguin.  I can't tell you how accomplished I feel having done that!  I had my dad on the phone talking me through every step.  I must thank my dad for always being happy to have me as a helper in the kitchen.  I learned how to make every one of these dishes from him and I still think he's the best cook I've ever met.  Shredding the coconut meat from the shell was labor-intensive, and it probably took a half hour (that's with my mom's help).  I broke our zester in the process of scraping coconut.

Sadly, Steve was sick for the whole week of our anniversary; however, he managed to plan a date for us (and yes, he even arranged a babysitter) for the weekend.  We had fun shopping and eating in Vernal.  We had such a good time, just the two of us.

Steve also proposed that after school gets out, we get a sitter to watch the kids and we go spend a night somewhere.  I scoured the deals online and I eventually came across what I thought would be a really good deal for a bed and breakfast in Salt Lake.  It's the Anniversary Inn and it's a room that's newly renovated and usually costs $250 a night and we're getting it for $129, breakfast included.  Sounds like a plan to us!  Next step- find babysitters.

If you're interested in finding the deal for yourself, here's the link: http://www.anniversaryinn.com/south-temple/specials

Our kids make us laugh.

I must explain this picture. We had some friends over for Sunday dinner, a few weeks ago. They have 4 kids all under the age of 5 and they were in our last ward. We ate frozen pizza, salad, and ice cream (I was trying to please the kids since there were more of them, and happy kids= happy parents). We had a great time visiting and it was time for them to leave. Lily and Amara were in their bedroom as we were saying goodbye, so I called to them to come say bye. "Okay!" was the response, and they ran down the hall. This is what we saw next.

Lily was in the middle of putting on her pajamas and instead of putting a shirt on, she just stuffed her upper body into her oversized pants and came out to say goodbye. Our friends had a good laugh, and so did we.

MORE LAUGHS...

This is what I overheard this morning as we were rushing to get out the door. As Lily was putting on her shoes, she turned to Amara and said, "I know why we're always late. It's because we always eat breakfast as a family, and because we always like to be at home more than we like to go to school."

As parents, we love overhearing our children's revelations.

As I'm typing this, Amara brings me a toothpick and says, "Mom, maybe we could put some chocolate on this. Like, chocolate, cherry, chocolate, cherry. That's a good idea. Maybe you should buy that."

I love it~ Great idea!

Visiting Family in Vegas!

Last month a bunch of us met in Las Vegas to visit with my mom's family from Hawaii. It was a fun and memorable time! I tried my best to work on family history, and thanks to Aunty Leo, Aunty Mina, Uncle Joe, and Grandma Linda (via Uncle Joe's cell phone), I was able to fill in some gaps in my family tree and get to know my ancestors at the same time. It is priceless to share in the lives of those who've "been there before."

We were also blessed to be able to stay the night with Doralee's family and we enjoyed every moment we spent with them. Lily even lost her first tooth while there!

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Steve and Lily's show of ART!

Last month, our family got to enjoy a night of creative expression.  East Elementary held it's annual art show, and it showcased the student's art and a short performance by each class.  It may take a few moments to upload, but I made a smilebox presentation of what we saw at the art show.  Steve's class did a series of math chants, and Lily's class performed the bunny hop.  Then we got to go around the school and view the art from all of the students.  It was a fun night and both Steve's and Lily's classes presented spectacular work!

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Valentines, Haircuts, and Volunteering!

 Some people like to read about Valentine's Day in the month of February, but there must be others out there who long for a report on "the day-of-love" in the month of April (ahem, very last day of April to be exact).  For those cherished few, the first third of this post is for you! 

There was a lot of love that went on in our home this Valentine's! 

• Grandma Debby and Grandpa Jim sent Valentines gifts and the girls scored bigtime (matching princess sleepwear w/ slippers, a snuggly blanket w/ sleeves, wands, candy, and cards). 
• Lily had a Valentines party at school and she came up with the idea to make a giant cupcake to take home the Valentines in; so that's what we did.  We used a gallon ice cream bucket and cut a giant hole in the side for kids to slip the cards in, then we covered it in paper we folded accordian-style to mimic a cupcake liner, and we topped it off with a bowl turned upside down that we rolled clay and play-doh around until it resembled a cupcake.  It was a fun mommy-Lily project.  I also was in charge of the Valentines Day party for her class, and it went off without a hitch!  We played Cupid's Surprise, Sight Word BINGO, made handmade valentines, and ate sugar cookies.  So fun!
• I gave my hubby the biggest Valentine he's ever seen, literally, and I taped my declaration of love to the front of our house for the entire world to view.  The heart was probably as tall as me and it was made out of some large sheets of white paper that the girls helped me tape together.  Then I used colored construction paper to make the letters that spelled out "I (heart) My Man!  And I really do heart my man!  
• Steve was sweet and made sugar cookies with the girls.  It was a good daddy-daughter sugar fest!

---------Moving onto the next topic, HAIRCUTS!

 Over Steve's Spring Break in March, we (meaning me) decided that everyone needed a haircut and that it would be a fun family activity to do together.  I scheduled us all for appointments in Vernal at the hair academy there, and for $20 plus tip, we all got our lovely haircuts!  Amara didn't smile most of the time that she was getting her hair cut, but she didn't cry and she was happy as soon as she didn't have to hold still anymore.  Lily enjoyed her haircutting time and surprisingly, she was the first to go back, yet she took the longest to be finished.  Check out our before-and-afters in the collage above.  Click on the collage to make it bigger.

----------------Lastly, But Not Leastly... VOLUNTEERING!
I volunteer once a week to visit a sweet lady named Viola who lives in a nearby senior center.  She turned 101 last month, and I just had to be there on her birthday to say hi.  She doesn't usually remember who I am, yet she is so friendly and acts as if we've been friends forever.  I noticed that she likes to wear an orange flower clip in her hair, so for her birthday, I thought I'd give her more flower clips in other colors, and some fudge- it's her favorite.  She is so healthy and full of life.  She's an inspiration to me and she's a dear friend to all she's acquainted with.  

Me, my mom, and Amara showed up while she was playing BINGO, and surprised her with her gift.  Then we stayed, and she let Amara put her chips on her BINGO board.  It was fun and Amara wants to go back and play again with her.

April Comes, Shenannigans Follow

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Shenannigans... April (the person, not the month) inspires fun and surprises.  She came for a surprise visit last month (sorry so late in blogging), and she came to my house while my mom was at work.  Well, we had some time to concoct a plan to surprise mom.  After I put my girls to sleep, it was time for some fun.  My mom had no clue April was in town.  I had called her and asked if she wanted to go out shopping with me and she agreed and suggested that we shop for April and her baby.  So, I disguised April in some of the clothes and accessories I found around my house and I dropped her off at the family dollar.  Then I went and got my mom and we headed to the family dollar to go "shopping."  You'll have to watch the video to see the look on mom's face when April surprised her.  She was shocked!  I was lame and couldn't hold in my laughter.