Hello Everyone,
We hope you are all doing well. We had a fun week and a good, busy weekend.
Monday was a gorgeous day so some friends and I and all of our kids met at a park. The weather was in the mid 60’s. There are some pictures below of that day. Later on that week we met up with basically the same group of people for a playgroup. The kids enjoyed themselves as usual. As always, Clark went to storytime, but we picked up Bronson Smith and he came with us. Clark and Bronson went right in to storytime and seemed to enjoy it. Ms. Linda, who does storytime, told me later that she enjoyed having them in there. So they must have been good, right?
During our weekly shopping trip I met a fellow and he told me his niece had three sets of twins within 5 years. Next time I go I might keep a tally of how many people tell me I have my hands full. I also saw two ladies from church during that trip.
Sometime during the week, I think Tuesday, we babysat the Nyberg kids. Shanna and Haley are a couple weeks older than Jeffrey and it was cute seeing all three of them together. Pictures below.
Lee has been working on a case report. After he finishes that up he’ll hit practicing for boards hard. He’s been reading through the material and practicing as much as he can on his current patients. I can’t believe they’re only a few weeks away! I am so glad that part III is his last test!
Saturday started out as a lazy day. I slept in and Lee made French toast. A little after 9 am, Bronson’s dad, Brooks Smith—he’ll graduate the same day as Lee and be an M.D., called and said he was going to Lowe’s for a free little father/son build-it-yourself type of class. He invited Lee and Clark to ride and attend with them. Clark loved it! He built a periscope. He even received his own safety goggles, shop apron, a patch for completing the little class and a certificate! Clark was very surprised to find out he could keep these items. He loved it. I picked them up from Lowe’s and we headed to a children’s clothing consignment sale. On the way there Clark had his goggles on for a little while. It was funny. We’ll post a picture of our little carpenter soon.
After the consignment sale, we went straight to the church for choir practice. We are going to be singing on Easter Sunday. I don’t know what we are going to do with the kids…Then we came home and did a couple things and then got ready to go to the adult session of Stake Conference. Melissa Smith, Bronson’s mom, babysat all of our kids for us so Lee and I could go to the session all by ourselves. It was great. Since our kids have been born that is the first one I have gone to without kids. Lee’s gone to some without kids, but that’s because I was out of town with them.
Elder Hardy presided at Stake Conference. We really enjoyed it. I believe he is also over Public Affairs for the Church in Washington, D.C. If not over it, he’s involved somehow with Public Affairs. He is a fun speaker to listen to. It was great hearing about his childhood and the things he learned from his father regarding the gospel. His dad died of a heart attack when Elder Hardy was 16. Right before he spoke, he had all of us sing Praise to the Man. He focused on one of the lines from the first verse, “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.” There was a lady there originally from Puerto Rico and she talked about how her family implements the gospel in their home—what they do for family scripture study, family home evening, participating in General Conference, etc. What a neat family they have. She said the morning of Stake Conference they eat ice cream for breakfast. I think we might have to adapt that to our family! We also heard today from the Stake President and how his parents came to hear the gospel and become members of the church. When Elder Hardy spoke today he talked about a bicycling race he did once, up Mount Washington—an 8 mile race, uphill. He talked about how this 80 year old man passed him and beat him in the race. We thought of you, Dad R!
I am so thankful that we have the freedom to worship as we please. I am so grateful that we have a living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Just as there was Moses and Abraham, we are so blessed to have a Prophet too! It was a nice Stake Conference.
Today we are enjoying being with each other and talking with family. We’re excited for Stacie and Lena and their upcoming babies and for Darrell starting his PhD program this fall.
We hope you are all adjusting to Daylight Saving Time. Lee and I are so tired that I don’t think it will be a problem. (Did you know that it’s incorrect to say Daylight Savings Time? Thought I’d pass it on.)
Lee found out the other day that he is scheduled to take boards on a Sunday. Pray for him that they will change his time! We weren’t aware that boards were even being held on a Sunday. Lee doesn’t even study/do school work on Sunday. We don’t even watch the Superbowl because it’s on Sunday. So he was not pleased to find out that he has to take a test on Sunday and one that he is paying several hundred dollars to take. I wish we would have looked at the dates more closely when signing up. Oh well.
We keep forgetting to list what we chose for the Army. We should hear in a couple weeks or so where we may go this fall. Choice 1 is our top choice.
1. Missouri
2. Arizona
3. Kansas
4. Virginia
5. New York
6. Texas
7. North Carolina
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Good evening everyone. It’s 10:32 and Lee and I just finished eating some fresh cinnamon rolls. You all should really come and visit! (Unless you’re on a strict diet, then it might not be to your advantage.)
I was tagged awhile back, and since I’m “it”, I think I’m finally ready to play the game. I thought I would share seven interesting facts about myself. Since we mainly write about normal, everyday things, hopefully this will be a little treat.
Did You Know that I’ve eaten a 1 pound burger in 1 sitting? For all of you going to BYU-Idaho, or who are currently there, you need to go to Big Judd’s. They have HUGE hamburgers—literally the size of a dinner plate. Yes, I felt kind of sick afterwards. One of my “Family Home Evening” brother’s ate a 2 pounder, but on the way home he wasn’t able to hold it down.
Did You Know that I am published? In middle school my class was asked to finish the sentence: “If I were President…” I wrote how if I was the President we wouldn’t have an inauguration ball because it is a waste of money. Considering the looming elections, I bet a lot of us could come up with multiple endings to “If I were President…”
Did You Know that I’ve been skydiving? I think most of you do know this actually, but it’s quite fun to share nonetheless. After graduation from high school two of my friends came skydiving with me at Hutchinson Skydive—I am pretty sure that is the name. I did a tandem jump, meaning an instructor was hooked onto my back. The coolest thing about it was the free fall. Just falling, and falling for several seconds in the sky was amazing. I highly recommend skydiving. It would be fun to do again.
Did You Know that Lee and I have some weird things in common? I’ll give one example here. My favorite number is 7; Lee’s favorite, 13. Counting the numbers in our first names combined comes to 7 letters. Counting the letters in our middle names combined comes to 13. That’s how I knew we were supposed to get married. Freaky huh? I bet you won’t be able to sleep tonight!
Did You Know that I saw Lee on my mission? Yes, Pres & Sister Christensen, I’m spilling the beans. He was on break from BYU because of the 2002 Winter Olympics. I actually served in the area where Lee’s dad is from. They came down to Los Angeles and surrounding areas for a trip. I had no idea that he was coming. (I promise!) My second hija (sisters we trained we called hija’s because we were Spanish-sister-wanna-be’s. Just kidding, we weren’t, but we did call them hija’s.) anyway, she wanted to give a brother and a sister a tour around the outside of the Los Angeles Temple. Since she was going outside, she needed someone to accompany her. Well, I didn’t really want to go, but being the good mama that I was J I went. At the end of the tour we were standing by a statue and, yep, you guessed it, Lee and his parents pulled up in their van (which Lee and I now own—the famous stolen van.) We said hi, shook hands and exchanged some chit chat. When we got inside I told my hija to promise to never tell anyone who I had just seen.
Did You Know that I can tie a cherry stem into a knot in my mouth by using only my tongue? Yep, it’s true. I demonstrated this highly-sought-after talent over Christmas break when we went out to eat at a burger joint.
Did you Know that I have cat-like reflexes? Some of you man not want to read this because you’ll be jealous. The Mid-South and South have cockroaches. You can’t get around the fact. We had our share of cockroaches in Memphis. They didn’t live in our apartment, just all around. And when there are so many little openings everywhere, it’s hard to completely avoid them. So picture this: it’s about 5 am. You’re sleeping soundly. In a nanosecond you are awakened from your deep sleep by the sensation of something crawling on your arm. And since you are so quick and nimble (and let’s not forget that you just BARELY woke up) you reach over and grab a cockroach crawling on you. You clutch it in your hand and flush it down the toilet. AND since you are actually ULTRA quick and nimble, you get to repeat the same thing a couple months later! What a lucky duck you are. (You may have even gotten a 3rd chance, but since you have 2 little boys and 2 baby girls, your memory is partially shot.)
Well, I hope these 7 facts gave you some recompense for not being able to eat cinnamon rolls with us.
I now have the honor of tagging seven other people: Lee, Sheldon, Nathan, Jeanne, Megan, Daniel, and Ruth. I look forward to your upcoming posts!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Random Updates
First off, thank you, thank you! This blog has broken the 1000 visitor landmark. As of right now, there have been 1044 visitors since January 2, 2008—that is when I put my site meter up. I think it’s so cool! I hope it has been a pleasure to view our blog. I love keeping in touch with people, and I have really enjoyed “blogging.”
The twins are 10 months old!!! Can you believe it?
Since the first of January I started reading some books by Spencer Johnson. He’s an M.D. and has written/co-authored the following: Who Moved My Cheese, The One Minute Manage, and The Precious Present. (And may have written others.) I highly recommend ALL of them to you. And the best part? They are very short. The Precious Present should only take you about 15 minutes to read (seriously!) and the others maybe an hour or two. They give great advice about managing, dealing with change in your life, discipline, loving life, etc. They have been fun to read. SO, visit your local library TODAY!
A Dave Ramsey post is coming soon. Aren't you all so excited!!!?
No-bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
There is a recipe I would like to share with you all. It’s relatively inexpensive to make, and the cookies are super yummy! They are no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. I got the recipe off the back of a Hershey’s baking cocoa container. This recipe is in my own words, but by all means I give the credit to Hershey's. Yes, I have it memorized!
1 stick margarine (1/2 cup) (don’t use butter—margarine tastes better in this recipe.)
2 Cups sugar
1/3 Cup baking cocoa
½ Cup milk
1/3 Cup peanut butter--if you don't have peanut butter, don't even bother making them!
Combine these ingredients over medium high heat. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Add in:
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 cups oats—we prefer the quick rolled oats to the old fashioned oats in this recipe
Spoon out onto greased pan or plate or whatever you like. They are gooey and yummy. Have a napkin on hand and a tall glass of milk!
Today was a fantastic day! The weather was in the mid 60's and the boys spent the bulk of the day outside. Even the girls enjoyed it too. Some pictures follow.
On Friday before our weekly shopping trip Clark told me that he wanted to buy some toys. I asked him if he had any money. He replied: "Yes."
"Where?" I questioned.
Clark said quite knowingly, "In your pocket."
Clark has been a bit envious I think of Cal's sticker chart in the bathroom. (Cal gets a sticker everytime he goes potty.) So, I finally made Clark one and got him some stickers. He gets a sticker when he does something extra good or completes a job. On Saturday he was sitting at the table, and looking bored said: "Mom, I need a job." :) It was so cute. He must really want to put some stickers up! Well, and he knows he gets a little reward at the end too, once the chart is full.
We are doing well. Hope all of you all are too!!
Cal loves showing off any vehicle he is holding in his hand.
Yum! Wet wipes in a bag. You can beat em'!
Here's our Shanna Bear!
And Haley Rae
Yeah, she can smile!
Cal smiling while the sun is in his face
What did I tell you?
Zach, Bronson & Clark
Clark and his buddies
Here's the gang!
Haley on Sunday with a straw
My sexy husband making Sunday dinner
Clark giving his well-learned "Cheese!"
Shanna & Clark on Sunday...hopefully the girls wait till June to start walking.
Shanna, Clark, Haley & straw
Okay, one more for proof
A normal Sunday---they LOVE daddy!
Haley showing off her skills too
I don't know if this video fully loaded or not, but it was of Haley pulling Shanna's pacifier out of her mouth. She kept doing it, so I got the camera hoping she would do it again. And she did!
