Adventure - First day of school

Yesterday, was the first day of school and holy cow, was our first grader ever excited. She woke up at 5:30am ready to go. When she got home, she was equally happy and excited. Her description of her day was an emphatic "AWESOME!!!".

I had a huge twinge of guilt from the not so healthy lunch I packed her. This child is so finicky. In my defense, I did pack carrot sticks and she did eat them. They balanced the fruit roll up and chips and string cheese and cheese and crackers I also sent, right? And, of course, the milk she bought was healthy. I did make a new rule last night. She must take at least one bite of the snacks at nutrition break.

This morning did not go as smoothly as yesterday. She was still a little tired and I spent about 15 minutes trying to make her shoes and socks fit perfectly. Each of my girls has had this issue at this age so apparently I am really bad at putting shoes on kids?? Or I have really fussy kids??


And doesn't Danielle look cute?

Adventure - Beach babies

My second adventure to North beach this year included two adorable beach babies (and their parents). Jim and Alesia came up for Jim's 10 year high school reunion and so I had grandbaby time, the beach, and perfect weather. Do I need to mention that I also had my camera ??!!

Harley is getting to have a hilarious little personality. This was the first time I saw him intentionally tease Sydney. She had arranged her princesses along the TV stand and he would run up to them looking as if he had the intent to destroy her kingdom. He would then stop, pause, and stare her down mischievously . She would scream, "Haaar-weeey." He would then run to me and fling himself on top of me, content that he got the reaction he wanted. A moment later, he would repeat the whole process.

Sydney's new phrase was "This is no faiwwwrr" and was used very effectively with running down the hall and slamming the bedroom door. Apparently, not that much was very fair at Grandma's house that evening.

Adventure - Epic Relay

On August 10-11, Jack participated in an Epic Relay from Cache Valley to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was course of 206 miles with 12 runners per team. Each team member had 3 runs varying in skill level and mileage. Jack's first leg was from Preston High school to the Riverdale LDS meetinghouse so the kids and I drove down to cheer him on along his route. His team placed 49th out of 82 teams and finished in 33:36:28. He really loved participating and is hoping to compete again next year.

Adventure - Bear Lake

The lake is beautiful this year and as full of water as I ever remember it being. Living 20 minutes away, you'd think we would go frequently. However, last week was only our second time this year. On the weekends, North Beach is a zoo. This weekend, there was a twenty minute wait just to enter the beach.

This trip to the beach was so fun. I let the kids each take a friend and then we found more friends near us at the beach. I probably snapped pictures for 2 hours, working on rules of composition, practicing shooting in manual mode, and shooting with different depths of field and focal points. The down side was that I was shooting at 1:00 in the afternoon with direct sunlight which produced some very harsh shadows. The kids were mostly oblivious, having too much fun to care if they were being photographed. I'm definitely hoping to go out one more time before school starts.

Published twice!

In April, I decided to take an online class by Christy Tomlinson called "The She Art Workshop". It is an altered art course using a variety of media and textures on canvas and I loved it. The course had a Flickr account set up to display and critique each student's work. There are over 2100 pieces of work exhibited. Was I surprised when I was contacted by the online magazine, Ready, Set, Create to have my first piece published in an article about the workshop?! My She Art girl was published in the August issue.


One of my goals this year was to make a book from my last blog, a journal so to speak. I finished it through Blurb which was very easy to do following Blurb's format. However, I wasn't thrilled with the quality of the photos in comparison to other books I have done on iPhoto. Overall, I'm still so glad to have it done.

Adventure - 4th of July

This year was one of my favorite 4th of July's! Jack ran the KVSI Fun Run early that morning. Then we headed to a chuckwagon breakfast in Montpelier to support the Lion's club. Josie, Grant and their family were staying with us, so the kids had some serious water activities that included the pool, hot tub and trampoline. Soon, it was off to the parade where the kids rode on the Ward Primary float. The Primary float was parked next to a Mardi Gras float, so consequently the kids were draped in necklaces before the parade even began, That evening, we watched fireworks from the park and lit a few fireworks in our yard for the kids afterwards. Do you love Michael's expressions? He makes me laugh.

My 2011 Word

If I were to choose a word that reflects our family life this year, it would be Adventure. The last 6 months have been full of family fun and we have yet many things planned. In the next few posts, I will be sharing some of these adventures.

Adventure - Island Park

From June 30-July 3, we rented a family lodge and had our Christensen family reunion. The lodge was perfect, and included a bunk room with 4 sets of bunk beds, a hot tub, and a game room. The kids spent a lot of time on the air hockey table along with some of the more competitive adults. Jeff and Kim brought their camping trailer and stayed in the campgrounds near us. Some of the highlights of our stay were rafting the river, fishing, and Jim and Jeff's dutch oven dinner. My biggest regret was not getting a picture of all of the cousins together, as well as one of all my kids together??




Part of our purpose in going to Island Park was celebrating my mom's 70th birthday. We also celebrated another birthday of our sweet little girl, Lily, who turned 3.













On Saturday, a 5K run was held in Island Park and Jack, Danielle, Sal, Meg, and Beckam participated. Sal and Tanner hit the golf course on Saturday as well. And one of the highlights was having a round of "Minute to Win It" put together by Meg. Thank you to my family for coming and supporting me in having this reunion. I loved it!!!!!!!

Thoughts on being 6

Hannah turned 6 on March 30th. She had anticipated this birthday for months. So many of her sentences began with "When I am six... (i.e. I'll pierce my ears, I'll go to the dentist, I'll lose my first tooth, etc...) Apparently, she also thought that once she turned 6, she would be done with kindergarten. She was in complete shock when I told her she had to go to school on Tuesday after spring break. For her birthday, she wanted a goldfish and camera. I bought two goldfish a few days before her birthday and they never made it to see her birthday. We bought another one a few days after her birthday which also didn't last very long. She now owns an aqua colored Beta which seems to be holding its own. One of the highlights of Hannah's birthday was skyping with Elijah, Michael, Aiden and Lilly.


Hannah is a girl who knows what she wants. I always give the kids a choice on what kind of birthday cake they want. Hannah's cake order included white and yellow striped sides with white frosting on the top and yellow and blue and pink flowers. It also needs to say "Happy Birthday Hannah" on it. Fortunately, the bakery had a sense of humor and filled her order perfectly.


Truly, Hannah is our sunshine. She brings us a ton of smiles and laughter. We are so grateful for her and sad that she is growing up so quickly.

Beautiful

Since I am so behind in my posts, I decided to post twice today. This weekend was prom and Danielle was asked by Taylor Golding. We picked out her dress about a month ago and then I "ballooned" the bottom. I am not just saying this because I am her stepmom, but I sincerely thought she looked beautiful. She did her hair and make-up so well and as a bonus, she had a really good time.
(photo: Danielle at 16)

On Being Grandma

I love this stage of my life and one big reason is that I get to be "grandma". I have always loved kids, particularly the smaller ones. I relate well to them although I'm not so sure that is a good thing?? Hannah and I went to Montana over spring break to see Beckam (and his mom and dad), then Beckam and his mommy came back to Idaho for a visit. I grew so attached to this little man and his fun and inquisitive personality.
(photos: Beckam at 3 1/2 months)


Of course, Beckam had his first swimming experience here. He was a little unsure at first, but within a few minutes, he was kicking and floating.

While Meg was here, we went to Salt Lake for the weekend and watched Jim and Alesia's kids. I was in Grandma heaven but by Sunday night, I was seriously exhausted!!
(photo: Sydney at 3, Harley at 10 months)

Ramblings

I must prelude his post by saying that I have a very blessed and abundant life!! However . . .

It was a very hard week. It began with the grief and empathy I felt for the Japanese people due to their earthquake, tsumani, and nuclear crisis. I watched daily the almost apocalyptic scenes from the internet. I was struck with the complete vulnerability of the human race and if ever I wanted to envision the scene described in the Book of Mormon at the crucifixion of Christ, I needed only to look at the scenes of destruction played over and over on the news. I wanted to do more than pray or donate money. I wanted to take my family immediately to Japan and start clearing debris and mud.

Friday, I helped with a luncheon for a family that was burying their 30-year-old husband and father. He left behind 5 children, the youngest being 4 months. He was murdered in Meridian, Idaho earlier that week. It was senseless and devastating.

To the week I also added too much to do and too many places I needed to be, Grandma being hospitalized, conflicts with children and Jack being gone for a few days. At a meeting 2 weeks ago, the speaker challenged us to look in the mirror everyday and repeat the quote "I am a beloved spirit daughter of God and my life has meaning, purpose and direction." As I looked in the mirror this week, I couldn't get past the word "meaning". Does my constant whirlwind of a life have meaning or direction? I felt emotionally drained and washed out.

Sunday is the day I use to try to clean out my head and make a plan for the following week. The thought occurred to me as I was planning that I don't need to go to Japan to find someone who is downtrodden and struggling. People in need are everywhere. And I am capable of helping even if it is just helping with a luncheon.

I also worked on my blog book Sunday afternoon. Blog books are the perfect way for me to journal since I am terrible at actual journal writing. As I was reading my posts from over 2 years ago, I was reminded that life is good and that through the small and simple everyday moments, life is given meaning. So for the time being, and to remind myself of all that is mine, I'll keep sharing this imperfect and crazy view into my world through my blog.

The Last Game

It is always bittersweet to see my kids finish a sport season. I get so tired of practices and busy schedules. During the height of the season, we were averaging about 6 games a week. But I love seeing them involved and learning and pushing to be their best. Danielle's basketball season (JV) ended last week, Tanner's (Freshman) tonight, and Isaac's last game (Little League) is tomorrow.

Before going into the game tonight, everyone knew it was going to be a hard one. Snake River is the toughest team we play in the season. Three of our boys were running fevers and one was just recovering from strep throat. The outcome wasn't pretty (sigh). Here are a few shots of Tanner (#4). He started almost every game and had a great season.

Two in a row

Blogging two days in a row is kind of a record for me. I'm just not a serious blogger. In the evenings lately, I've been working on Blurb to turn my old blog into a book. I am loving the outcome. It's like having a journal with pictures. And it has been motivating for me to blog just for the sake of keeping that record going.

I heard my smallest little grandson cooing over the speaker phone today. So sweet. (So, of course, I have to include another picture of him in this post.) Hannah has been home sick again today from school. Also, very sweet despite not feeling well. And I finished a project that has been cluttering up my bedroom. It was from a kit by Ali Edwards and does not look at all like the original. But, I really like it and wanted to share it with you. It is done with a black artist tray from 7 Gypsies.

Fresh Start

Welcome to my new blog. I'm excited for a new beginning. Life has been wonderfully busy and I have a lot to share.

You may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog. It seems that in the last 8 months, the phrase "small and simple things" has taken on new meaning. I am realizing more than ever that my happiness and peace are dependent on how well I manage the small and seemingly insignificant events, tasks, and moments in a day. I am hoping in this coming year to embrace simplicity, strive for order, and recognize the joy in my very blessed life.

I have taken hundreds (I am not exaggerating) of photos in the last 6 weeks. Here are just a few of sweet baby Beckam at 1 week old. Hope you enjoy and visit often!