Happy 3rd for Tanner and Reid

I know we always say this when our kids have birthdays, but for some reason, it seems so crazy to me that these boys are three! Just this last week I was at the library and saw a mom who reminded me of myself not long ago. She was wearing her workout clothes (hopefully she got the workout in!), but hadn't showered, her hair was pulled back in a pony tail and she had no makeup on. She had a baby on her hip, a baby crawling on the floor, and a two-year-old trying to be independent at the drinking fountain. We chatted for a few minutes and then I looked at my boys each carrying their own library bags and filling them up by themselves and I was in shock at how grown up and independent they are. They're potty trained, they dress themselves, put on their own shoes and coats, they can do top buckles in their car seats, and love to salt their own food. They have their own thoughts and ideas and sure to express them. They ride bikes, use scissors, shoot hoops, and love when dad gives them a football play to run. They're not babies anymore.

Part of me loves this! Part of me wants to run through the house screaming, "We're growing up, we're moving on, I don't have three kids in diapers anymore!" And yet, there is a part of me that wants to freeze time with these little people in our home. Someday they'll be gone

and have families of their own and I'll miss our little family, I'll miss the funny things they say, the chaos, the messy faces, and sweeping the floor at least three times a day! I'll miss Reid saying, "Mom...I love you so much!" just out of the blue. I'll miss Tanner asking to "help" make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Until then, I'm doing my best to enjoy these little people.

We had a great few days celebrating T&R's 3rd birthday. We started Sunday night with dinner, cake, and presents with Nana (who happened to be in town), Grandma and Grandpa, and Adam and Meghan.

These boys love games and were so excited with their new games from Nana and Papa!
Grandma and Grandpa had a surprise gift that T&R had to close their eyes for. I thought it was so cute that they really closed their eyes and waited for the OK to open them.
They were VERY excited with the gift of a new basketball hoop! The hoop has been enjoyed by the whole family and many visitors as well.How many Christensens does it take to put together a basketball hoop? Ha! These guys were hilarious!

I got sick the week before T&R's birthday and was also hosting Girls' Weekend. Mom C. could tell I was going to kill myself trying to do it all, so she offered to make birthday cakes. Grandma made Reid's and Grandpa made Tanner's, what lifesavers! It was so very kind of them to do this and I was so incredibly grateful!

Reid checking out their new aquarium night light with his new bball by his side.
Monday was their actual birthday and it was fun for them to go to preschool and take treats to their classmates and get their birthday hats and a toy from the wonderful Ms. Roper.
The day only got better with a trip to BYU's candy counter (one of our frequent and most favorite activities)!We spent some time racing up and down a grassy hill on campus, they were in heaven!

Amelia was all tuckered out from all the birthday excitement and napped on the go...again.

That evening, we had dinner and then Tanner and Reid opened their gifts from us. They were so excited about getting their own laptops! Just look at Tanner's face and body- he was so excited!After that, Adam came over and was so cute to set up a scavenger hunt for the boys to find a gift and some candy he had brought them. It was so sweet of him and the boys loved it.

I think the birthday celebrations were just perfect and the boys are so excited and proud to say that they're three!

GW 2010

Although it's our off year for Girls' Weekend, we decided to gather Bountiful and Logan for Time Out for Women and it was a great weekend! We usually plan our own itinerary and activities, but decided to attend this conference instead. I don't have many pictures to prove it, but I think we all had a fantastic weekend! The speakers were funny and uplifting and facilitated great conversations for us after the conference...not that we need help making conversation, but I think our conversations were more purposeful.Some highlights of the weekend:

-Sarah pumping her arm at the semi truck trying to get him to honk his horn. I laughed so hard!

-I love cooking in the kitchen with my sisters! We made Green Lantern pizza that I've been craving since eating it poolside with Keith and Nan this summer.

-Assorted Ghirardelli chocolate squares.

-Kris Belcher's talk about light and darkness, so sweet and real, yet I laughed so hard!

-Just being with my sisters and mom...and my Amelia! It was fun to have a little girl time with her.

The only things that could have made the weekend better:

-Rachael! We missed her, but she had a very valid excuse for not being there.

-not being sick, ugh!

-two hotel rooms in Logan Friday night! Ha! Thanks for being so flexible ladies!

I had a great weekend, so glad we have this tradition!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend! Saturday morning we put the kids in the car at 5:30 a.m. and headed to Midway for Swiss Days. April and I ran the 10k and our kiddos ran the children's races. We ran into a family friend who lives in Midway and offered to let Mike and kids watch the race from their property. I would be in heaven if this was my property!About 5 1/2 miles into the race we came across the cutest cheering crowd and had to cross the street and give five to all our fans. So fun!The kids had a great time in their race and were super excited about the whole event. Mike was a gem! He had our four kids and Marcus during our race and was super daddy pushing two strollers and getting five kids to the start of the children's races while April, Glenn and I were finishing the 10k. Somehow it all worked out!April and I had a great run, it was truly beautiful running in the hills of Midway.
In honor of our Swiss heritage, we stuck around for the parade and then had authentic Knatwurst sandwiches for lunch and then headed home. It was a great family outing!
After Swiss Days, Mike and I left the kids with our trusted Shelby and enjoyed watching the Cougars beat Washington in our opening game of the season! We love being in the Lavell Edwards Stadium and cheering for our cougs!Bridal Veil Falls is one of our favorite places in Provo Canyon. We headed up Monday, but we weren't the only ones with this idea! We had a great time walking up the trail, playing in the water, and eating our picnic lunch! Mike wants to climb the waterfall so badly, but every time we go, we have kids with us! He climbed part of the fall and I can tell he's like a little kid itching to go all the way up. We'll have to go for a date sometime before we love Provo. On the way back down, Mike and the boys would walk ahead and hide and then jump out and surprise me. They had so much fun doing this all the way down! Such funny kiddos. It was a great weekend and now we're back to real life.

First Day of School!

Fall has come and we have happily welcomed the routine of school, especially knowing this is our last year of MBA school! All three boys are in preschool this year and are loving it! Mike is also enjoying classes and the new/old routine feels nice. Aren't these boys so big and so adorable?!Andrew felt like the big man on campus returning to preschool. He's such a handsome little man!
And here's our big student! It feels good to be starting the second year of MBA school and I feel like the time is going to fly by!These pictures are unrelated to school starting, but here's a glimpse of life at our house lately. Reid is such a crack up!All these boys love their sister and it's so sweet to seem them love on her like this. I love these kids!

Lagoon and More Cousins

It seemed like as soon as we got back to UT, we were driving up and down the valley seeing cousins who live here and cousins who were in town visiting. We were excited to get to go to Lagoon with Mike's sister, Keri, and her family and we had such a great time with our cousins!

I was positive our kids would be too young for the amusement park, but Mike assured me they would have fun. I'm so glad I listened, because we had such a great time! The first half of the day, Mom C. and I took the little kids on all kiddie rides and I have to say that I could have stayed with them all day long! They were so excited and had so much fun, it was truly enjoyable to hang out and watch them ride.






Andrew and Aunt Keri went on a ride where all the water animals squirt you. Andrew thought it was so funny that Aunt Keri got drenched. They had a great ride together.
Tanner and Jessica rode the dinosaur drop together. I think they tried to enjoy it, but it was a little scary for all the little guys.
Andrew loves his big cousin, Jared! He had a great time palling around with him! Thanks Matthew, Keri, Grandma, and Grandpa for letting us join you!

Let it Begin!

We've been indoctrinating our children since birth with a love for BYU, and a love for BYU sports. There is a very tender spot in my heart for this university. It's where I always wanted to go to school (the only place I applied...what was I thinking?!), where I met Mike, where I made life long cherished friends, where I decided what kind of woman I wanted to be, where my parents went to school and met each other, and I could go on and on as to why I love BYU. I feel like we've done a pretty good job helping our children love BYU like we do. To further this indoctrination, we took the kids to the Cougar Kick-off and had a great evening with football players, basketball players, and best of all... Cosmo!


Tanner was so cute while Cosmo signed his ball! Here he is giving him five after Cosmo gave his ball back. The boys were pretty excited about meeting him.


We came home with our BYU football shirts and posters, BYU swords, and autographed balls by a few of our favorite cougars! It makes me so happy that my boys love BYU as much as we do. Let's go Cougs!