Happy Birthday Bekah!!!

Rebekah Kate Christensen

February 12, 2001

6 lb, 12 oz.

19 1/2 inches

Provo, Utah

We can't believe that Bek is already 8!!! Time seems to go by so quickly. Bekah is our sweet little helper. She loves her little sister and is so patient with her. She is smart, funny, and so very talented. We love you Bekah and don't know what we'd do without you!

Happy Birthday Ally!!!

Ally Janet Christensen

February 9, 2006

Troy, Michigan

7 lb. 4 oz.

20 inches

sometime in the afternoon

(she's the 3rd. I think I'm pretty close on the deets :)

I can't believe that our baby is 3!!! I feel officially "old" when I say that "they grow up so fast!" We aren't celebrating her birthday until Wednesday when my parents get here. Ally has been saying that her grandma and grandpa were coming for her birthday so we figured she'd be disappointed if the big day arrived and they weren't here, so we're just pretending that today is just another day, but I couldn't help reminisce! We love you Ally!!!

Guitar Hero

We gave Jeff the newest Guitar Hero game for his birthday and since then, our kids #1 and #2 request for songs on our Ipods and whilst playing said game are, respectively, Livin on a Prayer by Bon Jovi and Beat It by Michael Jackson. Ally, who can say very few understandable words sings "beat it, just beat it" quite well. One afternoon when she had just woken up from her nap I heard her in her crib singing Beat It. I can't decide if this should be funny or not.....

It's great to be eight!!!

I can't believe that our little girl is going to be eight next week! Bekah has decided to get baptized and the big day is February 14th ~ Valentine's Day! One of her friends from Church, Emma, will also be baptized that day, and she's excited to have a friend to share her special day. Grandma and Grandpa are coming out and it is going to be a fun week filled with birthdays (Ally and Bekah) and fun!
And, if you can't read the details, it's the 14th at 10:30 am. We'd love to have you celebrate this special day with us!

This is for you Ape and Jod!!!

As promised, pictures of the apron. Yes, I did say the apron... I cranked out the one for my friend, but still have to do mine. Thanks for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without you and I think of our trip to Gracie Lou's every time I look at it! I wish we lived closer...

Three Cups of Tea

I just finished reading "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time." by Greg Mortenson. It's about a guy, Greg Mortensen, who gets lost in the high hills of Pakistan while attempting to climb K2. He ends up stumbling upon a small, extremely poor village where he falls in love with the people and promises he'll come back and build a school for their children. Over the next decade and to date, he has literally moved mountains in Pakistan and Afganistan building primary schools and encouraging education for some of the world's poorest children, especially girls. He feels that education is the best way to end the war on terror. It is amazing to read about his challenges, triumphs and the effects of his efforts on these people. That's the very basic gist and doesn't do it justice. Just read it!
The book was amazing, inspiring, humbling and every other similiar type word. I was sucked in and couldn't put it down. I'll be honest and say that this is one of the first "biographies" that I can say that about! I highly recommend it.

Thanksgiving 2008

So I'm obviously a little behind at the blog thing, but better late than never! I just wanted to share some of the highlights of our trip to Utah last month. We had such a great time visiting our families and the kids have missed thier cousins since we got home. We loved the warm weather and seeing the mountains covered with snow. We had such a fun time seeing the lights on Temple Square. We miss and love you all!

Ally loves her Aunt Mel!

Ally and Kenedy in all their princess finery.

Ally and "baby" Gavin

Ally and "baby" Easton

Did I mention that Ally loves Mel?

Ally cheesing it up for the camera!

We visited Grandpa at the nursing home. He passed away a few days after we got home. We feel so blessed that we got to see him one last time.

Bekah and Jeff at Temple Square

Jaxon, Michael, and Easton at Temple Square

Michael and his "Best Friend" Caleb. They had such a great time together. It was fun to see them get along so well.

Ally and Brighton. What Cuties!

Girls afternoon out!

I took Kailee, Kenzi and Madi out for lunch and manicures.

Bekah and her buddy Alyssa. I don't think we saw these two for 6 days straight. They set up a beauty parlor and a garage sale in Lyssa's room and entertained themselves for hours on end. They both cried when we had to leave and Alyssa wanted to trade Bekah for Kailee.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Michael!!!

Michael Jeffrey Christensen

October 3, 2003

Bloomington, IN

7 lbs. 3 oz.

20 inches

I can't believe that our little boy turns 5 today! I asked him a few questions this morning at breakfast and here is what he said:

What is your favorite color? "Hot pink like Cinnamon Toast's hair" (that's one of Bekah's ponies...hmmm....)

Favorite movie? "Kung Fu Panda"

Favorite song: "I Won't Go Home Without You" by Maroon 5 (hence, the song playing right now if you have the volume up). He loves this song, asks for it all the time and sings along with it ~ very cute!

What do you want to be when you grow up? "Missionary" (proud mom moment)

If you could go on an airplane, where would you go? "to meet Grandma and Grandpa"

Favorite thing about school? "NOTHING!" After a few minutes he did tell me that he likes playing outside on the playground.

Enjoy the pics. They brought back a lot of wonderful memories.

WE LOVE YOU MICHAEL and are so glad you came into our family!

Happy Birthday!

All cleaned up with Bekah and Mom

Bekah holding her new brother

Mikey sleeping

First birthday!

2nd Birthday

Holding new sister Ally

4th birthday party

South Haven, Michigan

Well, as you can see...I am really, really behind on blogging. I have been meaning to post pictures of our trip to South Haven, Michigan so that everyone can see how beautiful Michigan really is. After "complaining" to my family for years that we get tired of spending all of our vacation time and money on traveling to Utah, my awesome family all came here this past August. We rented a great beach house in South Haven, which is on Lake Michigan, and it was awesome! The weather was perfect and it was so fun to be together. Hope this convinces more of you to come visit! We'd love to have you.

Kirk and Mel are the best uncle and aunt!

Jeff swimming with the kids at the beach house pool.

Mike taking on the waves

Sunset

Beautiful shoreline just below the beach house

Sunset at the pier

At the beach. No waves today.

Main street with a veiw of the pier.

Ally

Bekah and Kenedy (Garrett's oldest) Isn't the sand wonderful???!!!

The whole fam. Sorry, it's a little dark.

Gavin (Garrett's baby)

Lins and Mikey

Bekah building a sandcastle

Michael and Jaxon (Steph's oldest) fighting the waves. They did this for hours!