He gets it from me... Uh oh!

Could it really be??? I don't want to admit it but I just realized this weekend that Braxton gets his bad sportsmanship from ME! We were playing connect as a family yesterday and I went head to head with Bryce and lost. That boiled my blood faster than the speed of light. I wanted to stomp my feet, cuss out some nasty words and hurl a large object at the tv! WHAT?! Over a game? I couldn't believe I felt that way! At that moment a light bulb came on in my head and I saw things through Braxton's eyes for a minute. I felt so sorry for him.

I knew better than to act out on my previously mentioned thoughts and calmly walked away, eyes on fire, teeth gritted together and trying to take deep breaths.

I have never liked to play sports or really any type of games and I think that is the case because I am WAY TO COMPETITIVE! I DON'T like to lose! I can't handle losing! I obviously didn't learn how to be a good loser. Maybe it is the perfectionist in me... who knows.

So now Braxton and I can enroll in anger management classes together and both be taught now to lose gracefully. He is doing better at controlling his temper (for the most part). Or maybe he is just holding it in more like I did yesterday.

Most likely I will continue to steer clear of competition so everyone keeps their head! :) I am sorry Braxton that you didn't get more of your dad's laid back personality.

Jordan World Circus!

There is a first time for everything! And this was a first time that the kids or I have ever been to a circus! Abbey came home from school Tuesday afternoon for free kid tickets with a paying adult. I did the math and it turned out to not be that bad of a deal. I checked my budget envelopes and was able to scrounge up just enough money to go. I warned the kids before we left that I was paying to get in to the cirucs and that was it... nothing more. We loaded up the kids pockets with their treats and headed for a good time. I was glad that I had warned them in advance about not buying stuff once we got there cause they get you coming and going with all sorts of different things. I did feel bad cause I thought it would have been fun to ride on the elephant. When at any other time in my life am I going to get a chance to ride an elephant? I had to remind myself of other goals and things I want to do in the next little while and that helped ease the pain of not spening 60 bucks on a family elephant ride.


We got 4th row seats just off to the right of the center stage a bit. We felt a part of the action. A few of our favorites were the elephant tricks (especially when the one large elephant did a hand stand!), juggling acts with swords and fire sticks, a balancing act with lots of chairs, a funny clown, 4 motorbikers riding at the same time in the metal "ball of death" cage and a magic act of changing outfits on a lady. The whole family had a blast!!! I was so worried that the kids would feel deprived for me not spending extra money on the extra stuff but the moment we were out of the arena they had forgotten all about it and just kept talking about the fun that they DID have. It was a great night and I am glad that we went.


We didn't take too many pictures cause we were busy juggling Mason and just enjoying the show. Thanks to Bryce for taking the pictures of the actual performances!

Here are a couple of quick photos before the circus started. We were there early to get good seats before it all filled up.

Pictures don't do the balancing guy justice. He was really cool. So were the elephants. We were too slow getting the camera back out for some of their trickier stunts.

Update on Obsession...

I have had a day of success, a few days of indulgence and a lot of realizations! First off, I have to say that I believe my body was going through withdrawls from sugar last week! I am still thinking about sugar a lot but I am not going as crazy as I was last week. I almost wanted to crawl out of my skin last week but survived! I ended the week with a GREAT success! Saturday night Bryce and I went to the adult meeting for Stake Conference. We had planned to go to dinner sometime that night but had both eaten a HUGE lunch of our homemade Cafe Rio sweet pork salad (me)/ burritos (Bryce) so we weren't really hungry for much dinner. Having in my head that we could just skip straight to treats I suggested we grab one after the meeting. As we were driving around nothing was sounding fantastic to me. I then suggested we go to Macey's grocery store cause there is bound to be SOMETHING in there bakery, frozen section or treat isle that would be delicious! I grabbed a basket when we walked in and Bryce instantly worried that I would fill it up before we left. We walked all over the store and left EMPTY HANDED!! Can you believe that???!!! I saw things that were tasty but nothing was "worth falling off the bandwagon" for. That was a proud moment for me!

I must have gotten a little bit cocky cause then on Sunday I made cinnamon rolls for dessert. There were several extra which became my Monday morning breakfast and then another one that day as a snack and just one more after the kids went to bed that night. (I didn't want them to dry out and get all stale!) Horrible reasoning I know. It didn't help that I could smell them every time I walked into the kitchen and they just stared me down while I choked down Cheerios. They are so much better than Cheerios!!!

We then took the kids to the circus last night and of course you need to have treats when you do something special like that! I dug a few more treats out of the food storage and we went off for a good time. I did use some self control to not eat the entire bag of stuff that we brought (which I would have done in the past without too much hesitation).

I have realized that I can make a "special occasion" out of anything! I have been rewarding myself with treats for making through the day, to help me relax, to help me from being antsy, give me energy, etc... I know that life isn't going to stop happening and I have to deal with it in other ways than food. The spare tire hanging out around my waistline is a good reminder to stay on track! I can do this! :)

A Glimpse of Heaven...

There are lots of struggles in life, raising kids and the whole sorts so I just love the little sweet moments that make you step back, take a deep breath and say, "Ah ha! It might just be worth it!"

Monday was just one of those days that seemed forever long, I was worn out and Bryce had to be gone during dinner to meet with a friend for a minute. It was quickly approaching time for our FHE activity and treat. I went down to the basement for a moment of peace and inspiration on what we could do that was easy and hopefully successful. I grabbed our memory game and some skittle packs from the food storage and headed back upstairs with a prayer for fun. We ate our skittles while we played the game and it was SO MUCH FUN!! We were all giggling, talking, taking turns and getting excited about each person's success. This is a breakthrough for us! Especially for Braxton! He has really struggled with sportsmanship and even though he didn't win, not a peep of negativity was shown. I didn't want the game to end (and it wasn't just the fact that I was actually winning) but I wanted to hold on to that moment forever! Maybe if we keep it up with Family Home Evening we will have another success one of these days! :)

Another tender moment comes in the middle of the night on generally a nightly occassion. At some point in the night Mason usually wakes up crying and is ready for a bottle. Begrudgingly I pull myself out of bed, make a bottle and head back upstairs and feed him. After all of my "woe is me" thoughts on being woken up, Mason finishes his bottle and snuggles up into my chest and onto my shoulder completely relaxed and at peace. He doesn't really snuggle much anymore cause he is too busy moving around. The nightly snuggle only lasts a minute or so and I just breath in the sweet smell of baby, enjoy his tender little chubby cheeks squished up against me and marvel that Heavenly Father trusted me with such a sweet little guy. I lay him back in bed and stumble back to my own bed grateful I get that sweet moment only once a night! :)

First Steps

Tonight Mason took 3 steps in a row completely unaided! He has done it several times too! He was just standing in the middle of the kitchen looking up at Bryce. You could tell that he was focusing on balancing and then Bryce squated down to his level and called him over. In socks, on the wood floor he took three distinct steps! He did it again down on the carpet in the family room. Oh Boy! I am not sure if I am ready for this but CONGRATULATIONS MASON!!! Since he isn't quite 10 months old yet I am placing bets that he will have this thing licked by his birthday.

Family

Things to note about the kids:

Mason is walking along furniture, standing all alone for several seconds, crawling up the stairs in a matter of seconds and still generally getting up once a night. He is a constant mover! He loves to empty any cupboard, basket, etc... He specifically loves my tupperware cupboard in the kitchen and my bathroom cabinets. He is like a tornado and leaves a mess from his path. It drives me nuts to have stuff all over the floor! He still only has 2 bottom teeth but I think that another bottom tooth might be close to making an appearance. He wants to feed himself and many times won't eat the baby food cause he isn't spooning it into his own mouth. He just got his 3rd haircut a few weeks ago. He loves to wave good-bye and good-night. He isn't a long sleeper and I am lucky if he takes 2- 1 hour naps a day.

Landen loves to color and cracks us up with stuff he says. He is getting better at being able to say what he is thinking. He has LOTS to talk about! Just today I was working out and listening to music on my phone. It was a Scorpions song and he turns to me, "I just love Michael Jackson! Don't you mom???" I despise Michael Jackson but we didn't have that conversation at the moment. I did have to tell him that we were listening to Scorpions and that they were really cool and that is why he noticed that he liked them. Also, the other day he was racing Bryce getting dressed and he told Bryce," You are just wasting your time racing me!" (Meaning that Landen was going to smoke Bryce.) That might have been true if Landen could focus on anything like that for more than a half a second! (I am glad that he has confidence in himself) It is amazing that he can focus on legos and superheros for so long when he can't manage to put his clothes on without being slave driven. He is a sweet kid and gets along with everyone. He is still constantly watching out for Mason. Mason doesn't get away with anything if Landen is around!

Braxton is becoming quite the reader! He can read quite a bit of his verses in the Book of Mormon and is doing really well with the books he brings home from school. Lately he has been getting up at 6 am to do his chores to play the X box or watch cartoons. His favorite games are Ping Pong on the Xbox Kinect and Plants vs Zombies on the Xbox. We are having a few challenges with him testing boundaries, rules and just plain not thinking through some of his choices. Some are not a big deal and a few others have landed him in a heap of trouble (from us). I think that he has gotten in trouble a few times a school but no phone calls have come in from his teacher. We have parent teacher conferences next week so we will chat about that. It isn't anything serious but I would like to know both sides of the story. Braxton really is a good kid and I don't want to paint a bad picture of him. He can be high energy and agressive without thinking about how that is affecting others and sometimes it turns into trouble if it isn't focused in the right places. We really need to find him some good friends. It is hard to have his friends over cause he doesn't play with toys for more than a minute and is on to something different. He also only wants to play certain things and those don't always match up with his friends.

Abbey is doing well in school. Her piano is coming along really well too. She is sprouting up taller and taller. She is starting to pull a bit more attitude and we are having a few more emotional roller coaster episodes so I suspect that the preteen life is coming up quickly. She is still super shy in front of groups and is petrified of doing the story telling festival at school. It is a requirement so I told her that we will just have to start early on practicing for it to make her more comfortable. Abbey is also a good babysitter. We can leave her for short little periods of time and she runs a tight ship. We have had some good lessons about what to do when she is babysitting to keep everyone happy and safe. Soon I think that we will have to schedule her in advance if we want her to babysit for us instead of the neighborhood.

Obsessed

I am obsessed with food. Treats to be exact. And it is getting bad. Making treats for the past few holidays has only fueled my obsession. With the holidays to blame it on it made me feel normal. Now that they are over I have started to realize how obsessed I truly am. Some people may roll their eyes if they read this... and that is ok... but I am serious! I think about treats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I wake up in the morning wanting something tasty, and it isn't Cheerios (unless they are drizzled with a sugar syrup, mixed with coconut and a bunch of other cereals to make cereal candy) and it doesn't stop ALL DAY LONG! At night it gets 10 times worse cause the kids aren't around to "bust me." I have been justifying my sweets with the fact that many of them are of little or "no fat." Then I started developing a pot gut. Those "little or no fat treats" are taking a toll. And the other not so fat free treats are taking a bigger toll. I am not trying to say that I am excessively overweight or anything but definitely not at my best. I also know that I am a high energy person and really don't sit down much the entire day. I choose to hussle up the stairs to put things away and do almost everything at a fast paced step to get my list of to-do's done. This also requires me to snack a bit to have enough energy to make it to lunch or dinner without crashing or feeling shaky. Treats are an easy, delicous and horrible choice!

I kept telling myself that if I were busier it would take my mind off treats/candy. But I already feel super busy! I can barely keep up with all of my responsibilities as it is now. Also, while I am super busy doing laundry, dishes, cleaning, driving carpool, fixing dinner, attending church and all the other things I get to do my mind just keeps thinking about what candy would taste good or where I can sneak a bite of cookie.

I don't know how people deal with other addictions cause this is driving me NUTS! I have started exercising several days a week and in years past that has been helpful. For some reason if I am exercising I tend to eat heathier. I am also chewing more gum to avoid eating candy and brushing my teeth right after dinner to get the food taste out of my mouth. Plus, I always hate to eat something right after brushing, it doesn't ever taste right.

I am by no means going cold turkey on treats. I do need to somehow gain some self control. Something I haven't had to do with treats my whole life (till the last few years). If they were around, I could pretty much eat as much as I wanted and not notice many effects.

Well anyway, there you have it. I must now go and do something else before I whip up a batch of cookies or tear open the bag of skittles in the basement. Maybe there is a 10 step program for food addicts????

Christmas 2010!

For the 1st time in our married life we didn't go to Idaho for Christmas.... at all! It was kindof weird! Fortunately almost all of Bryce's family was here in Utah so we were able to see them all over the holidays. It was kindof a bummer to not have that excitement to head up there for all of the fun and festivities but in another way it was nice to just hang out in my pj's all day and not care what time it was or how slow we were all moving.

Also for the 1st time in our married life we were able to have Bryce's parents, Tim and Tricia, spend Christmas with us and that was SO MUCH FUN!!! We loved spending time with them. They are always a treat to have around.

For Christmas Eve we started off the day with our Cousin Cookie making party, played with cousins and just before dinner had a quick clean up so that I could feel relaxed and enjoy the holiday. We spent Christmas Eve dinner over at my mom's house with most of my siblings and their families. That was fun and went by in a flash. The highlights of that time were the crackling of a woodburning fire in mom and dad's fireplace and the wagon rides around the neighborhood pulled by one of dad's John Deere tractor with him in the driver's seat. We bundled up and sang Christmas carols as we drove past all sorts of beautiful Christmas lights. It was fun cause even my Uncle Kenneth joined in with us and sang Christmas carols. The fog that was settling in around everything gave it even a more magical feeling to the night. Of course we had to rush off from that to get the kids home in bed for Santa's big arrival that night. But just before bed we stopped to check on our basket of cotton to see if it was full enough to be comfortable for the arrival of Baby Jesus. Our family had been working hard all month doing secret acts of service and adding cotton to the basket to fill it up with love. I have to say that we did a pretty darn good job!

Here is a quick shot of the kids as we were getting ready to head out the door for Christmas Eve dinner. Abbey was all ready in her pj's... I think that she was just SLIGHTLY excited!

I love this picture of Landen! He is still half asleep Christmas morning but has discovered something in the Christmas treee and is so excited to tell everyone about it!

The boys opening a present from Santa that was sent to the both of them. It was their punching bag! Braxton had to climb right inside the box to check it all out.

A surprise for Abbey was a Babysitting Barbie. This is something that she hadn't asked for so time will tell to see if she really likes it or not. She isn't a big Barbie player but she also has about every baby accessory under the sun! Abbey also got pixos and a book that she had been hoping for.

Landen went over and gave Abbey a big hug. Abbey had given each person in the family a present and his was one of her old copies of the Book Of Mormon. He was very excited and I am glad that I could capture the moment.

Santa surprised Braxton with some cap guns and plenty of rolls of caps! 2400 shots to be exact. He loves them, but I still think that Grandpa Bezzant (my dad) loved them EVEN MORE! If that is at all possible! I don't mind them shooting them in the house... if I know that they are going to shoot them. I want to choke somebody though when I get caught off guard. Braxton has had many shootouts and you better watch out... he is getting quick!

Santa also surprised Abbey with a karaoke machine. She was so gracious when she openened it up but had no idea what it was. Braxton (of all people) had to explain to her what it was! Needless to say she LOVES it and there aren't very many moments in the day that the machine is not on.

Mason missed the early morning rush and but he didn't sleep in too late. He wasn't too big on actually opening any presents. He did love the ball that Santa brought to him in his stocking!

Mason loved to squish the presents, pull on the ribbons and suck on the wrapping paper... forget about actually opening any of them. Just as we figured.

Abbey is helping Landen untie a ribbon from his present. Inside that giant bag was a generic pillow pet given to him from Bryce and I. He and Abbey both got one for Christmas so now the three older kids each have one. It is the size of Landen! He can hardly carry the thing around! He also got a "big boy" razor scooter and some legos.

I finally broke down and we got the kids an XBox 360 with the kinnect. Bryce has been wanting a Wii forever and I didn't want to ever spend the money to get one. We probably still wouldn't have one except that Braxton LOVES to play video games and he constantly wants to try and play Bryce's adult combat games on his old x-box. We needed something more kid friendly and I like that this made them get up off the couch to play. It has a camera in the kinnect part that senses your movements so you have to actively jump, punch, steer etc... on the games to control them. It has been a lot of fun so far.

We had to try and see if Mason would open up anything. He liked playing with the sippy cups he got but isn't a fan of drinking out of them so far. He just preferrs his bottle or a regular cup.

Here are Bryce's parents. They are so cute! We made them a "Grandma / Grandpa's ABC book" filled with things that we love about them. It took WAY more work that I had originally thought but was well worth it. We also made ones for my parents but we don't have any pictures of them.

Abbey singing her heart out to her karaoke music. Her favorite songs are the Disney ones and Taylor Swift. She also loves to narrarate anything else that is going on with her microphone. There have been a few moments where I have thought that we need to have a chat with Santa on the presents he brings! :)

Braxton and Bryce playing with a tiny helicopter that Braxton got. They both LOVE this helicopter!

This year Bryce got off easy and didn't have anything to put together! How about that! He is mumbling a bit when he steps on Landen's legos all over the family room... living room... office... toy room... kitchen... :) Mason also loves Landen's legos and likes to haul them off to other rooms as he crawls around.

Anyway, we had a fantastic Christmas and we feel so lucky to be so blessed! It was just the best to be able to do so many fun things with our families. Merry Christmas!!

Cousin Cookie Day

I had this wild idea to have all of the nieces and nephews come over on Christmas Eve to make cookies for Santa. We made chocolate chip M&M cookies, oreos dipped in chocolate and crushed peppermint candycanes and decorated sugar cookies. It was a blast and considering the fact that we had 15 kids making cookies... it went pretty smoothly and quite clean!!! I really appreciated the help of my mother-in-law, Trish and for my sister-in-law, Jeanie, for snapping the photos of our fun. I think that we got a picture of every kid that was there, except for Mason. He was doing his part by taking a nap during the festive fun!

Abbie Christensen
Madelyn Christensen

Tricia helping Becca Rands.

Ila Bezzant. Ila LOVED the sprinkles! I had to laugh when she had 3 bottles in hand at once and dumped them as fast as they would come!

Hannah Shelley

Porter Shelley, Braxton Christensen & Brody Christensen




"The Boys Table" Starting at the top and going around clockwise. Brody Christensen, Landen Christensen, Traegan Christenen, Porter Shelley, & Braxton Christensen

Alex Rands

Lizzy Rands

Abbie Christensen holding Lucy Christensen.

Whitney Fairbourn

Me focusing... focusing... focusing...

Ila Bezzant

Our delicious dipped Oreo cookies!

Landen Christensen & Porter Shelley

Brody & Traegan Christensen

Whitney (hiding), Hannah, Abbey & Abbie.


I loved having everyone over and it was fun to see how each one liked to decorate their cookies. I hope they all had fun and Santa was well fed that year!

We definitely missed those who weren't around to join in but maybe another time.

Sledding @ Valley View Dec. 2010

It was the first day of Christmas Vacation for Bryce, it had FINALLY snowed the day before and we knew it wasn't going to last. The weather called for rain and no matter what, it was getting warm enough to melt the snow that day. We had to take advantage of the moment so right after we cleaned up the house we headed out the door for some good old fashioned sledding... well maybe not old fashioned... but it was fun! :)

Landen had a blast and just kept going and going and going! We had moved down to another hill and he hadn't even noticed cause he was too busy heading up that hill for another run.

There is my hunk of burning love (I am referring to Bryce since my captions never end up posting where I type them) and sweet Mason. Oh so Cute!!!

Mason didn't really react when he went down the hill with Bryce. He almost looked bored. I think he was still trying to figure out why he couldn't move his arms or legs in that snowsuit!

Abbey braving a face first run down the hill. I love her smile!

Braxton is our SUPER SLEDDER! He loved to try and maximize his speed and thrill.

I HAD to take this picture of Mason. He has this look like,"Can you believe my mom is making me wear this hat???!!"



It started to rain and cut our fun short but nobody complained cause NOW IT'S TIME FOR HOT CHOCOLATE!