Wednesday, December 15, 2010


Surprise.......
Baby #2 is on the way!!! I am 12 weeks & due on June 27, 2011. We are so excited! I am especially excited for Chloe to have a sibling so close in age. I know it will be challenging at times but more than anything I know it will be fun!!
This next year will be a different year for our family. We have decided for me to go back to school. I have always wanted to do hair school & it just never worked out. I moved to Connecticut after 1 year of college to save money for hair school & from there I basically left for my mission to Sweden. As soon as I got home I was getting ready for hair school again & got married instead. So it is finally happening after being married 4 years. I am so so thrilled to go back, I seriously get butterflies in my pregnant belly. I will take a 6 week maternity leave for the baby & then go back. That will be very hard but with my awesome babysitter I feel somewhat relived to know that both our kids will be in good hands. It's only a year too, so that's not too bad:) It will be super sad to leave my amazing job & the dental world... but I know they'll be my friends/2nd family for forever!!


I didn't tell Chase for a couple of days because he was hunting & also because I wanted to make it "cute".
Well with how crazy things get nothing was coming to mind....
So I wrote on Chloe's diaper
"Daddy- I am going to be a big sister"
The plan worked perfectly. She needed a diaper change & that is what he found.... he couldn't believe it! He wasn't really expecting that, but he was super excited!!!



Here is how we told our family on Halloween that #2 was on the way!!



Here is a picture of how we told our families on Halloween.
The saying says....
Fall is such a fun time of year...
The sights, the smells & the things that you hear,
The gobblens, monsters, pumpkins & more...
Soon we will be a family of four.
Summertime brings a new special one..
June 27th is when our new one will come!!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

You know it's Christmas when.....


You try to take a family picture for Christmas cards & your kid has another idea.




You're going to Christmas Parites.
We had lots of fun with my work party, Chase's work party,
Premier Pediatrics party & the ward party.
Sorry Andrea we didn't make it to your sweater party!

When Chase puts on the popular "beenie" that he wears every year while he decorates the house with lights.


When you have extra hands to help decorate the tree.......
Surprisingly enough Chloe did really well.
She just wanted to play with the paper that the ornaments were wrapped in.
The Christmas Tree is Finally Decorated... not sure for how long:) Chloe has done well with the tree, I wired all the ornaments on & I think all she cares about is the cord to the wall.

Santa comes to town to visit & take pictures!!

The yums yums are made, the apples & pretzels are dipped in caramel & chocolate & delivered to the neighbors & friends. Most of the shopping is done. Hopefully we'll go to the nativity in St. George next week. Watched some Christmas movies & can't wait to watch more.

Our family is so excited for the holidays!! We're especially excited for Chloe & this being her first Christmas. It's been so fun to buy her gifts... I can hardly wait for her open them!!

THANKSGIVING

This year we had Thanksgiving at my moms house. I feel terrible that I don't have more pictures of our own family. I did get some of the cousins though & that's special too. My mom had a cute little activity for the kids. They made cookie turkeys. Chloe loved taking hers apart & eating it.


Addie, Kara, Drew, Oakley, Chloe & Elle

Chloe loved her turkey

Chloe loves stairs & going up them with Drew... not sure how to get down yet:)

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It was fun to have the twins at the Christensen's for the weekend. They haven't been to Delta in a while. Chloe is definitely becoming buds with them, especially Kelly. They found this box & loved playing in it... after this picture was taken the box totally broke, no tears though :)

They love playing in the tunnel & tent!

Chloe discovered that the candy drawer opens & the 3 girls were super excited to empty all of the bags! Sorry Chris!


Now that I look back at Thanksgiving I realize that we didn't go around the table & say what we are thankful for like we have at my moms house every year since I was little. I think sometimes now with the food & so many kids around that I forget the true meaning & that's being with family! I am so grateful that Chase & I are from the same city & have such amazing families. I am so grateful for this special holiday! Hopefully I can be better & get more pictures next year!!


Mesquite & Air Show in Las Vegas 2010

It's tradition in the Christensen family that we go to the airshow every year (or at least every other) This year was Chloe's first year! It was so so SO loud & she did awesome. She slept in my arms for the last 2 hours of it.... not sure how, cause it was so loud! I don't have the best of pictures because their on everyone elses cameras. But nothing really changes. We also went to this little pond the night before & fed the ducks. Chloe loves animals & being with other kids, especially her cousin Sienna.

Sunday, October 31, 2010




OCTOBER & HALLOWEEN FUN!!

GARDNER VILLAGE

The guys went hunting so we went up north & had a girls weekend of our own! It rained a ton but that didn't stop us from going & seeing all the fun witches at Gardners Village.


Me & some of my nieces

Cute little Chloe

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Making caramel apples with Katie & Cherie

Cherie is the pro at making apples & was super nice to give us a lesson :)


Go Katie!

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BUNKO #1

What a fun night of Bunko @ Katie's house. Loved all the costumes!! Katie made the cutes Flo from the Progressive Insurance comercial :) I still can't get over Taryn's costume, I almost didn't recognize her with the wig. Then there's Vannessa made the prettiest clown I have ever seen. Love you girls!!!


Yes, I was a witch if you can't tell.


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BUNKO #2

What a crazy month with all of these fun activities. Usually all these social events space themselves nicely throughout the month. But these last two weeks were pretty busy! I just recently joined another bunko group & here was some of the great costumes.


If you can't tell what I am.... I am purple grapes. Thanks Britt for the idea. Playing bunko with those balloons was a little challenging. I had to lean to one side to see what was going on! Natalie had the best costume by far. She made her pregnant belly look like a real eye ball. Way to Go Nat... it was awesome!!

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HALLOWEEN DAY


My cute mom & I made a ton of caramel apple. We're trying to master the perfect caramel apple... let you know when it happens:)

The toppings we experiemented with were: Cinnamon & sugar, Skor Bar, Snickers, Pecans & Mini M & M's. Next time we're for sure trying butterfinger. Any other suggestions?

Meg & I had this impression we needed to dress up with our little girls like an hour before.... I think we did pretty darn good for what we came up with. Thanks Chris for the outfit. I can honestly say that I have NEVER gotten this dressed up for Halloween. Man, the things you'll do for your kids. Some people really didn't recognize me.

The crazy clown & the adorable lady bug!

Cute little Sienna was the princess from The Princess & the Frog. Here are the girls giving Great Grandpa Bill loves on Halloween night!

Probably my favorite picture of Chloe the whole night. She wouldn't hold still long enough to get a decent one until Aunt Joyce gave her a Capri Sun. She just sucked on the wrapper. It was our last stop for the night. She did such a good job. We made it to all of the family members that we wanted. This picture just shows truly how precious she is.... I love you Chloe!

Kind of a random picture... but on Sunday we all dressed in black & didn't notice it until we got to Chase's house. I guess black was the appropriate color for Halloween Day!

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Pumpkin Patch

Our trip to the pumpkin patch was a little delayed.. but we finally made it! This is definitely a family tradition for as long as we live in Cedar. We had never been to Paragonah until then. Cute little town.




Little Miss Chloe
is
9 MONTHS

Visiting daddy at work

Playing with mommy at her work

Hanging out with Kelly & Haley

Sienna, Aunt Tara & ME

First off here are the stats for the 9 months appt:

Weight- 17.03 (22% so good for Chloe:)
Height- 28 (67%)
HC- 45 (79%)

The doctors were so proud of how well she is growing. It was a slow start at first.... but.... once we introduced solids everything has really picked up.
-Chloe has definitely picked up the pace with crawling. It's no longer the army crawl with the scoot/crawl.
-She can pull herself up to just about anything, it depends on how badly she wants something.
-She loves to sit in weird positions on her knees... I think it's to keep her balance from falling forward or backward.
-She loves to say mama & dada :)
-Still loves loves loves reading books, she loves to flip the page!
-Loves to giggle when we do silly faces ;)
-First Halloween & she was the cutest ladybug (post coming of pictures)
-Still no teeth... still loves to suck on wash cloths.
-The hair is really growing fast... can't wait for some fun hairstyles?
-Still loves her green beans & puffs

CARD CLUB

Can I just say that I absolutely love card club night!! It just gets more & more fun each night. We have the best laughs, make the cutest crafts, get the cutest cards & best of all each the best food!! I love you girls, thanks for all the fun times!!!

Teresa I loved the idea for the craft by the way... it was so simple, but so fun! We simply glittered up our mini pumpkins for a cute fall decoration!!




You can't go without a sassy pose.... right??
L to R:
Nicole, Keri, Jen, Brittany, Julie, Andrea, Liz, Teresa & ME taking the picture!!

Monday, October 11, 2010


MISSION FRIENDS

*me & chloe, lindsey aka syster williams, elizabeth aka syster cooper,heather aka syster sonnenberg (
my trainer) & heather aka syster powell.

This last weekend Chloe & I went up north to a baby shower for Heather aka Syster Powell. It was so much fun to see some of the girls from the mission. I still can't believe that I have been home for 4 1/2 years. I can honestly say that the mission was one of the most amazing experiences for me! I don't get to see the sisters very often but the two times a year that I do see them are the best visits EVER! It's awesome how you can not see someone that often but you always know that they are there for you & support all that you do. I can honestly say that besides family & my co-workers I am the closer to these girls than any of my high school girls. We all decided at the shower that it is so much easier to have that bond/closeness with your companions/sisters from your mission because you know eachother on a different level. These girls have seen me on my ultimate highs & ultimate lows. I cheris
h these friendships like no other. I am so lucky to have so many of my companions so close here in Utah. Everyone has gone so many different ways & I love to catch up with them & their lives.

Now that I am on the subject of my mission it makes me want to reminise some more of the amazing memories that I cherish so much!

***Just a warning, this is a really long post:)***

I served in Stockholm, Sweden Mission
September 2004- April 2006

MTC
Setember 2004




SWEDEN



JAKOBSBERG
Got to Sweden in November of 2004. It was a hard transition because it was so dark & cold. My first area wasn't your typical Swedish area. I pictured tall, blonde people that spoke the Swedish language that I learned in the MTC..... well..... the Lord had something else in store for me. I learned to fellowship & teach the gospel to those from different countries like- Africa, Iraq &Turkey,

When I saw my companion/trainer for the first time I could already tellwe were going to do fine. Sys. Sonnenberg & I have a lot in common. She did such a great job getting me familiar with the new culture I was going to be a part of for the next 18 months. We had so much funespecially where it was during the holidays. We definitely had our laughs too & she knows what I mean about that. We had such a great district that did everything together. I never had a district as close as that one. It was a fun but hard area, meaning that it was definitely a "mixing pot" as far as cultures in the area. I never knew what language of Book of Mormon to grab for the day.... Arabic, Swahili, Russian, Turkish or Spanish?? That is when we really had to pray on who we would meet that day. The other thing that was hard is that it was cold & dark the whole time. The swedish people always have one single it candle in all of their windows though & sometimes that was the only light you got. Man I miss that country.


Nicos' baptism

Celebrating St. Lucia Day with a school class

Celebrating St. Lucia Day with our ward. My comp was Lucia herself, she was pretty excited about that.

Lucia Day is on December 13th is a very big tradition that they celebrate. I have heard different versions of the traditions. But basically the oldest daughter of each family gets to dress up like Lucia with a white rob & candles around her head. On this day she serves her other family members cookies aka pepperkakor (kind of like a gingerbread cookie)

Christmas Day at a members house

Darkest day of the year.... yes the paper says 2:51 pm & it's that dark. The sad thing is that I was in Stockholm & that isn't as north as you can get.... where it gets dark sooner & longer.

My cute little bed/area

Stockholm Temple



HANDEN

When our first transfer calls came I was pretty nervous. I felt like I was just getting the hang of things & wasn't sure if I was ready for change. Well it was a lot of change. My new companion, Syster Williams & I were getting double transferred into an area that had never had sisters before. This area was also known as one of the best wards in Sweden. Our Mission leader was amazing. We had about 12 ward missionaries that we met with every month. That ward was so amazing. We had the best 6 months ever in that ward..... YES..... I did just say we & 6 months. My comp & I stayed 6 months together in that area. Now you know why I have so many pictures together. We had a ton of success & more than anything we had a lot of fun doing it :)

In Stockholm outside the Royal House. The guard wouldn't let us get any closer.

Not only did we love the post man because that ment mail.... but he was a member. Doesn't happen very often to see your members while at work.

Sportin our awesome new bikes & helmets.

This is Jazmine the most amazing person in the world. I met her in my first area but taught her in my second area where she actually lived. Her story is the golden investigator story. I could go on for forever about her.... but to sum it up she is one of the most christlike people in the world & I miss her so much!

My comp & the members had a surprise birthday party for me on my b-day. It was so so fun!!

Systers conference at the mission home. Syster & Elder Tom Perry came to visit our mission so we got to have our own conference with the girls. It was so so fun!!

Easter Day we had a great meal & painted Easter Eggs like we do here in the States....... but....... then came the witches trick-or-treating to the door. Yep that's what I said. I am still not sure why that is a tradition but it's kind of different.

Me & the witches on Easter.

We had member meals every day for 6 months.... sometimes 2, every once in a while 3. Our favorite was the Swedish icecream aka "glass" it is so amazing!

Playing tennis with a member

Jazmine's baptism

Yes it's me again on a bike in the snow. I road a bike for most of my mission. It wasn't too bad. Sometimes you had to get creative getting on & off the bike if it was the boy bike with the bar. Didn't fall too many times, just the day this picture was taken. It wasn't a pretty sight, I slid on some ice going down hill :(

The first 1/2 of my mission I had President & Sister Baugh from California, they were so great!

There were 3 Syster Smiths on the mission. Yes it got kind of confusing at times... but it was kind of fun too. This was taken on Midsommer in June (another summer holiday they celebrate)

Another picture of me, Jazmine & Nic

Familjen Oqvist were some great supporters. We got really close to their family. We were able to teach their daughter, Olivia on the far left & she got baptized too.



ALINGSAS

It was super hard to see Sys. Williams leave... she went home at the end of our 6 months. I thought I would stay in Handen longer... but I got double transferred to a new area more South of Stockholm TRAINING! I was a little nervous because now I had to be in charge & know the language more than ever. It was a great area. Syster Stewart was my greenie & she was so awesome. We did a lot of fellowshipping with the less actives. What a great area. The members that are there are so strong & supportive!


After I picked Syster Stewart up from the mission home

The name of one of the buss stops in our area. Got to love the swedish language

This was a really cool experience. We had some members that took us to "The Mormon Rock" When the first mormons came to this area & started teaching the gospel & having their Sunday services they weren't allowed to do it in a building. So instead they found this big area with this big rock that they could preach from. It was such a spiritual place. I couldn't only but think about the Sacred Grove because of the special spirit that was there.

Because we were the first systers to the area we had a lot of questions. We were able to do a news article to answer all of them for the main newspaper.

Bullar (Cinnamon Rolls) are so so popular in Sweden. This is me & Artur baking them. He would bake them once a week & freeze them for special occasions.

I had to celebrate my one year mark with my absolute favorite peanut butter & ice cream. You can't get peanut butter there so I had to save mine from the states for special occasions.




GUBBANGEN

I thought I would stay in Alingsas for sure, but once again I was wrong. We both got transferred out. I went back to Stockholm with Syster Mitchell. She was getting ready to go home so it was fun to be with an experienced syster after training.

Me & Sys. Mitchell on the Tunnelbana aka subway. She looks a lot like my last companion :)

We were very fortunate to work with the Singles & Institute Missionaries :) It was so great having the Institute as a resource to help fellowship our investigators.

I was very lucky & got to attend the temple a lot on my mission. I went almost every week for 6 months. The temple is small but so gorgeous.

Sys. Mitchell was quite the little baker. We had lots of occasion for baking. We were always helping bake treats for the Institute activities.

Familjen Seydan were from Turkey & such great people. They came to the ward Halloween party. Sweden is trying to adopt the whole Halloween holiday.

As you can see in the pictures I have different styles of hair cuts. I started by letting a sister in the MTC cut it off the night before we flew out... not so sure that was a good idea? So I worked up enough courage & let an investigator do my hair &...... this is what happened :( Never been a red-head before, thank goodness I didn't have to pay for it. Only problem was we had Stake Conference the next day & the mission president was in my stake.... I felt so stupid.

Celebrating Syster Mitchell's birthday with some torta aka cake.

Gustavo's baptism

Had to keep tracting somewhat fun by doing snow angels in between buildings.

Whenever transfers happened it was a big site to see that many missionaries all at once at T-Centralen aka the train station.



Gubbangen
again
training
again
Syster Xhesika Jakupi

After Syster Mitchell left me I was totally caught off guard that I was training again. My companion Sys. Jakupi was a convert of about 1 1/2 years from Albania. Talk about an amazing 6 months. Yes, I was with another comp for 6 months. She taught me so much, it was incredible. She spoke 5 languages (albanian, italian, spanish, swedish & english) so we were really able to reach out to those around us. It was fun to sit on the trains & quiz her on what language people were speaking. What an intelligent sister with so much faith. She has quite the story. She had to wait to get to the MTC before she could visit the temple for the first time.

First time together at the mission home

Christmas Day getting a ride via boat to an island that where we were having Christmas Dinner.

Christmas Dinner

New Years Eve/ Marlena's wedding day. She was a investigator/member that Sys. Williams & I taught in Handen. It was so good to see how she was doing & see her so happy on her wedding day. When I left the missionaries were teaching her new husband??

Playing innabandy with the members at the church gym. It is like indoor hockey, they are huge fans of this sport.

By far the best day of the mission when Jazmine the golden investigator got sealed to her husband. I was so so happy to be her escort! :)

Syster Jakupi was able to share this day with us too. I love going to the temple with her because it is such a new experience to her too.

My mom came & got me from my mission. It was so fun to show the area to her & introduce her to my companions that were still there (my two greenies & MTC comp. Syster Fox) & especially the members/investigators. We made it to the temple with Jazmine & that was indescribable. We then made our way to Southern Sweden & over to Coppenhagen, Denmark. It was a quick trip but so fun to share it with my mom.

I still can't believe that the mission has already come & gone. When you're serving it can feel like the longest time of your life if you don't stay busy. I am so grateful that I was able to serve the people of Sweden. I am pretty sure that I grew the most. I am so thankful that I have been blessed & have always tried to follow the promptings I have been given with my life. If I didn't go to Connecticut to be a nanny I would have never been outside the Utah bubble & met & worked for so many non-LDS people. I was able to follow along with the sisters & that is when everything changed. I love the people of Connecticut & Sweden they will always have a special place in my heart!!!