kissing really is pretty gross

The other night, I had Drake laying on me, and he started kissing me. First on the lips, sweet little baby kisses. It was so cute, I would giggle between kisses and so he would laugh too. The laughing continued, and his kisses became more open mouth and much more slobbery. He also was crawling all over me, rubbing his open mouth all over my face and neck. So more than just cute now, it was really tickleing so I was laughing pretty hard. And Drake just kept on kissing me, open mouth, slobbery, laughing kisses. Now we were laying on the couch, and I could see Gwen out of the corner of my eye just standing there watching us. I'm sure she was a little jealous to see her mom and her little brother having so much fun, but also confused to see me laughing so hard despite being covered in slobber. So I'm assuming she was just wanting to join the fun when she walked up to us and spit right on my face!

My silly girl is too cute! Here she is in her new "kitty" shoes. Just ignore the mess that is my refrigerator.

Good Samaritan

The other night I had promised Gwen a ride on my bike, and I had a Young Womens Presidency meeting to go to. So I figured I'd load up the kids in my bike trailer and ride them the 3/4 mile to the lady's house where the meeting was. I had to move my car out of the garage first to get the bike out, got it out, loaded up the kid's and took the scenic route to Stacey's. The kids loved it, and it was such a gorgeous night for a bike ride. Went there and came home and of course the kids were alseep so I put them to bed. The next morning I went to go to the gym and my keys were MISSING! Oh mylanta! They were in my pocket after I moved the car and then we went for the bike ride. So they must have fallen out of my pocket while I was riding my bike. Sadly I used my spare set and retraced my path and didn't find my keys anywhere. Well that's such a scary feeling - knowing that keys to your car/house are missing out there somewhere. But today, when I went to the gym, the lady at the front told me that someone had turned in my keys! I now have two sets of keys again!!!! A million thanks to whoever turned in my keys!

Palm Springs

I need to give a HUGE thank you to my sweet husband Ryan who let me escape to Palm Springs for the weekend with my BYU girlfriends! We had so much fun acting like we were living in Provo again.


We did karaoke almost everynight. And we proved that you don't have to be drunk to be crowd drawing karaoke masters! All I have to say is we tore up "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Goodbye Earl"!

This is us reenacting Sonny and Cher's nuptials that took place on these very stairs!!! This is in the hotel we were staying in. We had a two room suite and pulled all the beds into one room and put them side by side to make one huge bed just like in college! ;) Needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep.

One night Haya's mom (who is unfortunately not pictured) was so sweet to take us ladies out to dinner at an amazing restaraunt! We ate outside at a concrete table that had a FIRE burning in the middle of the table! We may have put some items in the fire just to make sure it was really a fire. And it was. Colette it was so nice having dinner with you and Esther. Thank you thank you!

And of course we brought the clubs for some Palm Spring golfing. Our husbands were so proud! We had so much fun getting away for some girly r and r, but I was so glad to come home to see my beautiful babies! Here you go, now you can see them too!

And when I got home, my amazing husband had the house totally cleaned! And I know I left it in shambles. Thanks Ryan, you're the best!

mall time

Today Gigi wanted to take Gwen to Build A Bear

to have Gwen build a bear. (duh right?) Gwen chose out this

little orange kitty that she was instantly in love with.

She even got to choose out a cute little outfit for the kitty

including ballerina slippers, hello kitty panties and a hello kitty purse.

Then, she needed to choose a name.

Mom and I were spitting out all sorts of names for the cat.

I really wanted Tabitha so she could be Tabby cat, but Gwen

choose Carrot Juice! She was so cute and love carrying her around

the mall in her cardboard house. Then in Nordstrom, the kids had a

blast playing with the silly mirror.

Drake especially loved. In other Drake news. He crawled last Sunday! He is still not what I would call a "cronic crawler" but he does get the hand knee coordination thingy going when it suits him. (when he needs to go through a narrow space) And then totally random question, when are you allowed to leave kids alone in the bath tub? I know we're not there yet with Gwen, but I could be so much more productive....

baby shower time

My super cute sister in law, Jessylee, is due any day now. Today my mom, sisters and I threw her a shower. We had such yummy food: stuffed strawberries, pasta salad, sweet and sour meatballs, caramel creamcheese brownies, etc. So anyway it was so much fun to get a bunch of girls together to celebrate the upcoming birth of baby Katie Curleyhair.
Also, my sister Tawnya whose house it was at, is pregnant! So they are going to need a bigger place so I am finally using my real estate license and am selling their house for them! Crazy.

p.s. i love this band, and am so happy this song was available!

Gwen's first day of PRESCHOOL!!

The big day has finally arrived. Today I sent Gwen off to her first day of preschool. Now I've been looking forward to this day for some time now. Twice a week I will have two hours just to Drake and I to do projects, clean, run errands with just one kid in the cart, and play with my baby. I've been so excited. But for some reason last night before bed, I was so sad. I couldn't believe that



Gwen was starting her schooling today and that every school year for the next 20 years, she's going to be leaving the house to head out into the world. Now that is something I haven't been ready for.Not that I have much to worry about this year. She has an AMAZING preschool teacher with the same values (she's also LDS) and she's in school with at least two other kids from our ward. But still.


She's on her own twice a week.
Anyway, she had so much fun today, she "showed and telled" her class her good witch, held the flag for the Pledge of Allegience, and she got a stamp because her light stayed green. Good job Gwenny, I love you!

Labor Day

For Labor Day, we took a vacation...a vacation from our PROBLEMS! (For those who don't recognize that, go watch What About Bob, I promise you won't regret it!) I'm serious, go watch it NOW. We had swimming and BBQing. Oh so much fun. It was a nice 109, we enjoyed it but Ryan's mom who was visiting from Sacramento almost had heat stroke. We kept her inside on a constant watermelon feed.

7 little known facts...

I've been tagged, thank you very much Jennifer! So here we go,

1. I can fit my entire fist in my mouth! Also the bottom of a water bottle between my teeth. (I have a pretty big mouth)
2. I love road trips, but I have a small bladder. So that means frequent stops, or Ryan putting drinking restrictions on me.
3. My sister and I were lost for two days in China and we thought we would never see our family again!
4. I won an AIR GUITAR contest at a Phoenix Suns game, so I got a custom made Fender strat. autographed by none other than the Phoenix Suns Gorilla!
5. While jet skiing at Lake Powell, I crashed and the handle bar went right into my leg leaving a hole in the muscle. So I have a dent in my leg. Fortunately, or unfortunately I'm finding that the "softer" I get, the less you can see the dent.
6. While in highschool, I had a series of unfortunate events that led to my being an expert tire changer. By the fourth time in only a few months, I could do it in about ten minutes!
7. Once while we were living in Utah, Ryan and I were on our way to the airport and we were a little late. A cop noticed how fast we were driving and motioned for us to pull over. Ryan didn't have his driver's license on him so once we got to the side of the road waiting for the cop to pull up behind us, he quickly hopped out of his seat forcing me to get in the driver's seat to receive the ticket. Instead I slammed on the gas and we took surface streets to the airport and then fled the country. (we went to Cancun) That was the biggest high I've ever had!

I now tag Crystal, Tara, Jodi and Tawnya

Utah trip

Last Friday I went up to Utah with my mom, Tawnya, Kolby and Tara. We were there Saturday for my cousin Cindy's wedding. They got married in the South Jordan temple, and it was so beautiful!


Then Sunday we got to go to my neice Marie's blessing. Molly and Darren then put on an amazing luncheon to celebrate. Afterwards we went to my Uncle Tom's and Aunt Debbie's house in Ogden for a BBQ. It was soo good to see my cousins, eat good food, and play Killer Bunnies.

We then spent the rest of the week on BYU's campus going to education week. It was so good to be able to go to classes, get spritually charged, and have time to rededicate myself to being the best wife and mother I can be. I was also able to see so many people I love that I haven't seen in so long!

I am so grateful to my saint of a friend, Catherine LaPorte, who watched the kids while I was gone and Ryan was at work. Also thank you to Collete, Kolby's mom, who opened up her house to all of us. All in all I had such a good time, but was SO happy to see me babies again. I feel like they just grew up so much while I was gone! Is it just me or does it seem like kids put growing on hold until you're gone? But I got the BEST hugs when I got home.

My old man!

August 16th, Ryan turned 30!!!

Of course that was on a Thursday, and he has class on Thursday,

so we celebrated Wednesday. But that was great since

Wednesday, my brother Ethan came home from his mission!!!!

That's Ethan with pops and madre.

Drake reading the wine list.

Ethan served in the Oakland California mission and in that time has learned and grown so much! He is such an example to Gwen who talks about how uncle Ethan just got home from a mission, and "he taught people about Jesus".

Welcome home Ethan, we love you so much!

Now a little bit about Ryan. I just want you all to know that I am so lucky to have Ryan for my husband! He is the best dad that our kids could ever have, and the sweetest husband I could ever dream of. He works so hard, and loves to spoil us. He has such a good voice, and I love it when I see him cuddling our kids singing to them. He is OBSESSED with golfing, and he's pretty dang good at it. He's patient enough to have taught me how to golf, and to take me on golf dates. Ryan is so funny and always the life of the party. His smile and laugh are so contagious. He served a mission in Scotland, has a solid testimony, and is always striving to be a better person. Ryan, happy birthday, I love you!

fun times

Last week Ryan and I took the kids to the zoo, and it was so stinkin' hot! And so of course Gwen wanted to go to the little water park area and get wet, but we didn' have a swim suit for her. So being WT, we just took off her dress and put Drake's shirt on her. But she loved it, so we were happy.

Then this last weekend, we went up to the cabin for Kolby's 29th birthday!!! It was so much fun, thanks for having a birhthday Kolby! Gwen loved riding on the quads, and Drakey boy wanted to scoot around everywhere, but when we let him, he got a monstrous splinter in his hand. Luckily it was so big, it was easy to pull out.

And I don't have pictures to post of this, but Buster (that's what I call Drake) is turning into a man!!! Sunday he started getting on his knees and scooting in a crawling form. He's so close to crawling, I'm so proud of him! And if that's not enough growing for one weekend, he's getting his third tooth too. His top right one has cut through and it looks like the left one is not far behind. Next thing I know, he'll be shaving. hehehe - not even close. I love that he's still totally my little baby. I'm fine with him being a little slower on the physical development, because he's my sweet, cuddly little guy who still loves being held by his mommy.

Goofy toothed Gwen at the cabin. Gotta love it!

President James E. Faust

With love and appreciation, we remember President Faust who passed away this morning.

Domestica

Last year, my mom, sisters, and I tried Meals Made Easy. It's one of those places where you go and assemble meals and then they are practically ready when you get home. You just take them out of the freezer and pop 'em in the oven or what ever they need, but they literally are meals made easy.
So we're coming up on a busy time of year, and we thought we should do that again. But this time we thought why don't we do it all ourselves? We'll come up with our own gourmet menus and do all the prep work and assemble them ourselves. Well we did, and it took almost ALL day! Between coming up with the menus and buying the groceries, and washing, chopping, and cooking, we spent around 8 hours! But believe me, I know I won't regret it when I'm eating my BLT smashed potatoes, or my Spanish Chicken and Chorizo Paella. All together we made 6 meals for each of our families. But right now all the lemons in the world couldn't take the smell of onions and garlic off my hands! Any suggestions?
So that's how I spent my fourth anniversary! Yesterday was four years for Ryan and I, but he had his LSAT classes yesterday, so we postponed celebration to tonight. For those of you who don't know, Ryan's decided he wants to go to law school. He's been taking these LSAT prep classes, and has been studying like a mad man! He is so determined to do well, and I know he will.

simpsonizeme.com

...if I was a Simpson character!

a few things

1.

First of all, I finally got the kid's birthday pictures done. And I can't believe that these beautiful kids are mine! We fooled Drake into standing in the ladder picture. I held him there, then pulled my hands away right when she snapped the picture. You better believe he got so mad! But both of them were just angels! And Gwen, oh my was she a little posing diva. Thank goodness!

2.
And so I am in love with a vampire....Edward Cullen! I finished Twilight today, and I'm so ready for New Moon. My sister in law, Emily, gave me the book for my birthday, but I was so busy with The State of Fear, and other things that I couldn't get right to it. But once I did, I was page flippin! Now here's my question, Stephanie Meyer (who's BYU graduate and AZ resident) is married. Was her husband her inspiration for Edward, or was she dropping hints? ;)

Good chick book, I highly recommend it!

Where's my happy medium?

Yesterday I didn't eat any candy, and I was FINE! I totally made it, didn't even think about it. Come to think about it, I didn't eat any the day before either. But today I've decided I'm going to see how long I can go with out it. I'll make it so it's really a treat instead of one of my food groups. And the song "tootsie rolls are all I see, what ever it is I think I see, becomes a tootsie roll to me! ... tootsie roll I think I'm in love with you.." will not stop going through my head. I'm in trouble. I'm so lucky there are no longer any tootsie rolls in my house because the temptation would be far too great. So I can't go to the store because I might accidently buy some. Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Anyway, in other news, I have some of the cutest kids ever! See for yourself.



I came in my room to see Drake asleep like that on my bed. Don't worry, I saved him.

Giddy up birthday boys!

We have some one year old boys! Tuesday the 17th, Drake and Jack turned one!! I sill can not even believe they're not babies anymore. Tara and I had so much fun putting together their cowboy birthday.

We bought them little cowboy boots, hats, and then we made their little leather vests!

We were suprised at how much they liked wearing their cowboy hats! They had a blast eating cake! They dug right in.

Then the day after their birthday, they proved to their moms how big they are now. We went to the doctor for their one year appointment and shots. They both cried when they got the shots, but as soon as they were done and we were able to pick them up, they stopped crying right away. Thank goodness!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

INDEPENDENCE DAY!! ... a little late

Okay, I figured I better hurry and get this up before Drake and Jack's birthday tomorrow and have to get that up too.



We had an awesome Independence Day! We drove up to Utah to participate in the Christensen 4th of July extravaganza. We started the day (with only two hours of sleep) at the Provo parade. It was so cool, and where else will you see the missionaries walking in a parade with the Mission President and his wife riding in a sweet car?



After the parade, we had many fun games and swimming, and lots of yummy food. Then the culminating moments of the day...Cul-de-sac o' FIRE! The neighborhood gathers in the Christensen's cul de sac to march in the sparkler parade and watch the fireworks fly! We had so much fun and got eaten alive by mosquitos!

One night, we were up late playing Wii and Dan Barney (Emily's brother in law who just got his PhD in art) gave Emily and I henna tattoos. They were so cool, we got the "evil eye" on our hands. It's supposed to protect you from people who might be saying not so nice things about you.

We also had the opportunity to go to dinner with Josh and Summer Adams, then have dessert at Molly and Darren's. Molly's amazing! She just had a baby (Marie Chantel), but still made a cake for Gwen and I to blow out candles on for our birthdays. Thanks so much Molly, you're the greatest! And Emily's sweet mom Carol and niece Sunshine, also made me a cake for my birthday! Thank you so much! You don't know how much that meant to me! We had so much fun spending this amazing holiday with our friends and family.
We love our country so much and are so grateful to live here.
God Bless America!