Christmas Eve 2009

Well, we have very few traditions anymore but one still holds true. Every Christmas Eve my family gets together for breakfast. My dad makes amazing eggs and waffles and everyone looks forward to it.

In these Pictures:
Top Left: Kevin, Dad, Matt, Kate, Grace
Top Right: Anna, Spencer (hiding), Sara, Mom
Bottom Left: Joe, Mike Amy (all busy with breakfast)
Bottom Right: Marie with cute baby Mack

After breakfast we're always searching for something to do. May years it has been sledding (if there's enough snow), bowling or just games. This year we went to see the lighted Ogden Villages. It would've been a lot cooler to see them all lit up at night but we were there in the middle of the day. Oh well.

In these Pictures:
Top Left: Amy, Matt, Grace Kate, Thomas, Mike, Mom, Joe, Joe, Dad, Spencer, Sara
Top Right: Dad, Anna, Kayla, Grace
Bottom Left: Marc (He had ankle surgery on Dec 22nd)
Bottom Right: Joe, Mindy, Joe

Gingerbread Houses

We had our annual making of Gingerbread Houses. We use graham crackers and lots of candy! Each kid gets to make their own and you can see each one has their own personality.

Here are the finished houses...

"I wanna be a mommy!"

My cute little 4 year old got to hold her cousin Mack...shhh...don't tell Kevin! After she held Mack (she didn't want to give him back) she went and got her stuffed Kitty, whom she takes very good care of anyway, wrapped her up just like Mack is swaddled, gave her a binki and talked about how she wanted to be a mommy. Some days she's going to have 2 boys and 2 girls, so they each have someone to play with, but other days she's going to have 12 kids. Never the less she's always talking about how excited she is to be a mommy.
~Please let it be after she has found a wonderful husband!!~

BTW, the band-aid is because she scratched her forehead.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Our cute little tree.
Little Joe has undressed the bottom half a couple of times but that's it.
He's sick of time out. :)

Where's Kayla?

Joe loves his sister so much and follows her around like a little lost puppy, so when she's at preschool, this is what he does. So sad.

Mack Elliott Christensen

My incredibly cute nephew was born on November 10, 2009.

New Family Pictures

My dad took our family pictures again.
These were the two that we liked the most.
They turned out pretty good.

New CAR?!?!

So, we've been with only one car for over three years now. Juggling schedules, kids, jobs, school and everything else in our lives with one car has quite frankly sucked! When Kayla started preschool we really had no choice. We needed another car. So, we went all out and got a brand new 2010 Nissan Xterra Off Road!!! We absolutely love it! No more having to coordinate schedules just to have the car and no more busting our backs leaning over to put the kids in their carseats in the teeny tiny Civic. Our good old reliable Civic is now a great commuter car for Joe. So, my three wishes for when school was over and done with... 1 - new cell phone - check 2 - new car - check 3 - new house ... hopefully not much longer!

Trick-Or-Treat

This year for Halloween Kayla was Cinderella. We attempted the yellow hair but it turned out a strange color. She liked it so all was good in fairytale land. Joe Joe was a tiger. I was surprised he would keep his costume on but he did great!

Jackson Hole

We went to Jackson Hole in August 2009 with my whole family. The famous picture by the antler arch...did you know it's illegal to climb on them?

Me, little Joe, big Joe, Marc (brother), Kevin (bro-in-law), Marie (sister), Mike (brother) holding Phoebe, Sara (sis-in-law) holding Oliver, Dad, Mom.

This is Kayla and her cute cousin Oliver walking around the shops in Jackson Hole Square.

Downtown Jackson Hole has a cowboy shootout. This is everyone standing around waiting for the show to start. It's pretty fun to see them shooting guns and all dressed up in their western gear.

The TETONS!

Riding on the tram was pretty cool. You are taken to great heights and the view is spectacular!

This is our family at the Tetons in Jackson Hole. Mom, Kayla, Dad, Joe.

We went swimming at the hotel but it was FREEZING! Little Joe was so cold his lips were turning purple. Poor little guy!

On the way up to Jackson Hole we stopped off in Logan to see the LDS Temple. It must've been closed because nobody was there. We walked around and took some pictures. I loved this one of Kayla sitting on the bench in front of the temple wearing her sunglasses. She's so cute!

Me, little Joe, Kayla, Kevin, Marie, Whitney (Marc's girlfriend) and Marc.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, Ok, my birthday was July 22nd and now we're in December. I'm catching up for the past 5 months. My sisters took me to Garcia's for dinner for my birthday, thus the ginormous Mexican Hat! My sisters are always great company. The morning of my birthday Joe and I went to the gym and then came home and had cake! They crossed each other out, right? It was the most delicious mint chocolate cake from Dick's Market. Later that day Joe surprised me with a new cell phone from T-Mobile. Wahoo! Check that off my list of three wants (1-cell phone 2-new car and 3-my own house).

Seriously?

You wanna talk antiques? These are just a few things I found that are stored away but we won't mention whose they are...
Remember these? I think that the government required anyone and everyone to stop making them because they were so dangerous. I can't believe that our parents and grandparents used these and I probably sat in this very one...oh how scary is that? You don't even want to see the high chair that was stuffed away in the corner. I think if it was ever used again that it would be considered child endangerment.
Some poor old sap out there is thinking, "These chairs are amazing!" Ok, some reach freak out there would love to decorate their apartment in florescent orange and teal, one low back chair and one high back chair. Today, in my world these need to go to the DUMP! See that old mattress too? It's so old it can't even keep it's form when standing and it weighs a ton because of all the dead skin it's packed with. Maybe that should go with the chairs.
More than anything...this has got to go!!!!!!!!! Believe it or not, this is a box-spring mattress. The cover, you say? There isn't one. Ok, there's a mattress that goes on top so you can sleep somewhat comfortably but the box-spring...it's just a big hunk (and mind you about 200 pounds worth) of metal. Can you imagine being a kid and trying to hide under this bed, your face, arms, legs, whatever would come out all bloody from scrapes.

MacKayla rides a 2-Wheeler!!!

The day finally came...MacKayla said she wanted her training wheels off. She wanted to ride her 2-wheeler on her own. As a parent, this is one of those moments where you see all the scrapes, cutes, broken bones and everything else happening, especially for a child that is, shall we say, a little accident prone. But we did it anyway, you can't hinder a child's progress...

MacKayla is as excited as can be!
All ready with her helmet on, thank goodness.

With a little help from dad, she was off and going.

That wasn't to say we were without incident.
Luckily they were all minor falls.
However, we did need to do some serious teaching
about when it's ok to scream bloody murder!

She did it! She could not have been more proud of herself!
So, she gave herself a little victory dance!

Just a few other pics of our family enjoying our night.
Mommy and Little Joe
"I swear I didn't have my hand in the dirt!"
Whoa! What more can I say?

Milestones...

Well, we've had two great milestones this week...
MacKayla, who is 4, crossed the monkey-bars all by herself. This is a feat she's been hoping to accomplish for at least a year now. She was unbelievably proud of herself and so excited! Not to mention how proud mom and dad were.
The other milestone is a bitter sweet ...my baby boy Joe Joe, 14 months old... no longer takes a bottle. While I love the little stepping stones to greater independence for my little ones, it also makes me a little sad because my kids are just growing up way too fast.

Update

Mike and Sara named their little girl Phoebe Malia MacKay.

My new baby niece!

Sunday May 24th at 3 o'clock in the morning, my sister-in-law Sara (Mike's wife) had a beautiful baby girl...sorry no name yet. She was 7 lbs. 4 oz and 20 inches long. She really is a pretty baby even though this picture doesn't show that. Congratulations Mike & Sara!

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time....

Have you ever seen a dog run into a sliding glass door because he didn't see the door or a screen because he just saw what was outside? Well, our little guy is obsessed with going outside. Anytime little Joe hears the click of the storm door opening he books it over there to try and get outside. Well, Joe was headed out to the car and little Joe heard the door open and started RUNNING. Yes, he may only be 1 but he's a fast little turd. Well, just in the nick of time, Joe got the door closed but little Joe ran smack dab into the door and fell down, as if he didn't see the door there. All he could see was the freedom of the outside world looming in the background. Poor guy! You'd think we kept him chained up.

St. George, Utah

We took a little trip down to St. George, Utah during Joe's very short break from school. It was a short trip but it was fun and relaxing. We went to Snow Canyon and went on a couple of the hikes. We saw the lava caves, which were pretty cool.


We went to the LDS St. George Temple. The grounds were beautiful with all the flowers.
St. George has made a short stream in the center of town with a couple inches of water for all the kids to play in. It's quite the gathering of people, hanging out in the sun while their kids play. Our kids had so much fun we went there twice.

Spring Dance Recital

MacKayla has been taking ballet and tap this year. She had her second recital on April 18th. She loves taking dance and had the cutest outfit. She loved having her hair and make-up done. She wants to take dance again in the fall.
MacKayla, Sammie (Grace's cousin on her other side) and Grace (my brother's daughter).
These pictures are of the finale with all the dancers. They danced to "It's a Hard Knock Life!"