Sunday Photo: 29

We're having a blast this weekend at our family reunion.  I have so many pictures to post.  Today after our family meeting I got a big Sunday photo:  15 of the 17 grandkids!  (One had to work and one is on a mission).

Back to the fun.

Happy Sunday

Sunday Photo: 28

I am totally cheating today.  We spent the afternoon dog piling on Dad, wrestling, reading books, eating dinner with friends, and hanging outside with our awesome neighbors.  Then I spent the whole evening catching up the blog.  I didn't even take a good Sunday photo of the kids today.  But I took this one of cute Lucy yesterday.  She pretty much rocked the sink bathtub.  

Those cheeks get me every time.

Happy Sunday

Here's to a good week.

Take a Hike

We've taken a few quick day hikes so far this summer.  A couple Saturday's ago we went with our friends up to Silver Lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It's one of my favorite hikes with the kids - because I don't even know if it qualifies as a hike.  You could easily push a stroller around Silver Lake.

Down by Silver Lake

How we like to get the kids to hike.

hahaha

Growling like a bear also gets them moving pretty fast too!

We decided since we had time on our hands and the kids were all being good that we would try to hike to Twin Lake.  The trail head sign said it was a one mile hike, so we decided to go for it.  It was not easy, but the kids were all champs.  I am positive I complained more than any of them.

Maybe halfway up, looking down at Silver Lake:

Eli was a champ.  He walked almost the entire way up all on his own.  

He kept saying "my little legs can do it"

Twin Lake with our friends!  Too bad we weren't really prepared for going on that hike, we left all our food back in the cars.  It would have been a perfect beautiful place for a picnic lunch.

It was a great day in the mountains.  We also had some prayers answered while out on the trail that day.  Little tender mercies that remind us that Heavenly Father is always aware of us and hears our prayers.

~~~

This past Wednesday Wade took the big three kids and my nephews to hike to Timpanogos Caves.  It's a paved trail, but a really steep hike.  I haven't done it in a long time, but I remember it being really steep.  He said he did have to carry Avery a little bit, but once they got to the cave they all thought it was pretty cool.

Gage had my camera that day, so these pictures are all from him.

One more item and hike crossed our of Christiansen Summer Bucket list!

Friends

I have been so blessed to find good friends every place we have lived.  And I am blessed to have a handful of friends that I know will be my friends no matter how often we see each other, or where we end up living.  We can see each other every 4 years and pick up just like it was yesterday.

Anne-Marie is one of those friends.

We lived across the street from each other in Iowa.  Her husband was in law school while Wade was in medical school.  We survived some grueling years.  And when we hung out there were only 2 little bitty babies running around. (and we thought we were so busy!)  Now we have 8!

Life "after" (law and med school) hasn't been perfect.  Things have not always been what either of us have planned.  But I always have known that Anne-Marie is just a text or a phone call away.  And she gets it.  She understands the loss of a parent, a job, the anxiety over the kids, the moves.  She gets it.  And that is why I love her.

Anne-Marie lives back in Iowa now, but she come to Utah every summer.  So we were so excited to see her this trip.  The kids headed over to the splash pad and park.  I wondered if there would be any awkward moments with the kids - they haven't seen each other in so long, but within 1 minute of them being here they were all upstairs playing.  Gage and Brooklyn had such a good time.

Then and now.  (the last time we saw them, plus our friends the Youngs)

Brooklyn, of course, is the girl Gage is going to marry.  Ask him.  

It's all because of this picture, in Nauvoo, Illinois.  

When they were 4.  

We wouldn't mind it at all if they get married someday.

And a selfie.  Because we had to and we were waiting for the train.  

And I needed to put on some lipstick and makeup.  ugh.

Love you lots, Anne-Marie.  I wish I could move to Iowa so we could be neighbors again.

Find us a job, and we're there! 

:)

4th of July

We had an awesome time celebrating the 4th of July this year!  

July 3rd I figured out that everyone had a red, white or blue shirt to wear but Avery Ann.  So I decided to make one.  I used an old white shirt and some spray paint, and 30 minutes later she loved it!  I think next year we will all have to make one!

The city of North Salt Lake does a fantastic firework show on July 3rd.  We headed up there with some of our neighbors and had a great time hanging out, playing and waiting for dark.

Lucy played a little Frisbee.

(Eli accidentally got tackled by some grown men playing foot ball, good thing that boy is tough!)

Look at those hot little cheeks.  

But once the sun went down it cooled off and everyone had a great time watching the show.  I wasn't sure how Lucy May would do but she just sat on my lap and watched.  Everyone had a great time!

July 4th we had celebrations in our neighborhood.  Wade's dad came up and we had hot dogs, hamburgers and all the sides.  Wade made his magic dry ice bubbles for the kids.

We couldn't have the 4th without some smoke bombs and sparklers.

Then we set up a table outside and made snow cones for the neighbors.

Once it got dark we headed across the street to the park.  One of our neighbors has his own firework stand and has his pyrotechnics licence.  Each family pitched in $25 (or whatever they could) and they promised a show that would not disappoint.

It 

was

Awesome.  

I am horrible at taking fireworks pictures, but I have never in my life seen a "neighborhood" show like this one.  And seriously, we have seen our fair share of different neighborhood shows.  Seriously.

They had a speaker system set up and we enjoyed a 20 minute show of fireworks set to patriotic music.

There is no way at all we could have gone to any stand or store and spent $25 and come even close to what we enjoyed.

The kids loved it and had a good time running around with their friends.

There is nothing in my life that makes me more happy than to be surrounded by good food, friends and family.

What an awesome country we live in.

{Summertime} part 1

We have tried our best to pack our summer with lots of fun activities.  In fact, I have yet to hear the kids tell me they are bored yet!  Of course, we started the summer out by making a list of activities we all wanted to do.  

Because nothing around my house is complete without a list.

Hiking, museums, swimming, we've almost hit all the items on our list!

The dollar flip flop day at Old Navy happened to fall on a Saturday that I needed to be out of the house for a couple hours.  So Wade took the boys, and they did boy stuff (ok, not really, they cleaned the church and bought groceries at costco!) And I took the little 3 with me to Old Navy.  45 minutes of standing in line and $5 later we all got new flip flops.  Well, some of us.  Poor Eli, they didn't have any colors left in his size that we liked.

perfect podiatrist family picture?

We've been doing a lot with our cousins.  While my sister was at Girls' Camp we took her kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  So glad we bought that family pass back in December!  

Don't the big kids looked thrilled?

And how, you might ask, did we manage to get all 9 kids to the museum?  

A little creative thinking

We've taken full advantage of the kid dollar movies on Tuesday mornings.  They are old movies, but we still love them.  And you can't beat entertaining my whole family for $6.

One Monday night we went with our neighbors to the Church History Museum.  We also toured the Conference Center.  It was really fun and the kids had a blast!  Although we went 7-kids-under-9-speed, so I really would love to go back on a date night and actually read and enjoy the museum.  

At the Church History museum they have this pulpit and the kids all got to stand behind it.  It might look like Noah is practicing conference talks, when in fact he was practicing his best potty jokes.  

Yes. that is my Noah.

One afternoon we took a drive up to Farmington Pond.  Wade used to go up there when he worked for the Division of Wildlife, and he remembered it was a fun little pond.  We had such a great time playing in the cool snow run off and throwing rocks.  Wade has taken the kids up there the very next day too.

We picked black berries in Grandpa Christiansen's back yard.

Cute Lucy took some naps. I just can't resist taking pictures of her when she sleeps!

One night we whipped up a batch of sidewalk paint.  Super easy!  1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup water and food coloring.  And honestly, I didn't measure it.  I eyeballed it and it was perfect.  Fun night.

Since Wade has been home more this summer I have taken the time to go to the Bountiful Temple once a week.  Tuesday mornings.  Great way to start the day (and kinda the week).

And Lucy - the bum scooter.  She was sitting at the top of the towel when I put her down.  Silly girl.

We saw this on the side of the road and totally took advantage.  

Chocolate zucchini cake? yes please!

~~

Busy summer.  Lots more to post.

Last Day of School

On June 28th we celebrated our last day of school!

Noah had a great time in kindergarten this year.  He is looking forward to first grade and getting to stay at school all day long like Gage.  He is so excited to get to eat lunch in the cafeteria.  I asked him what his favorite part of kindergarten was and he replied: the spin toys on the playground and having a Halloween party at school.

On to first grade for Noah!

Gage had a great 3rd grade year.  He doubled his words per minute in reading this year.  That was a big accomplishment for him.  He worked hard at making new friends.  He liked having a PE class (our old school didn't) and he didn't like having computers.  (Learning to type is hard!) I asked him his favorite parts of 3rd grade and he said: almost all of it, but mostly art and science.

On to fourth grade for Gage!