Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas 2010

One of my favorite Christensen family traditions is the Nativity play on Christmas Eve before we do the piƱata.

This year Micah was the narrator and Joel was the donkey. 
Three little shepherds

Angels & Shepherds peeking out from backstage
anxiously awaiting their turn.
Angels Ashley & Emily brought "glad tidings of great joy"
and even helped the narrator out. 

The sweetest little Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. Ellie does a great
job of taking care of her little brother Jacob.
After the Nativity was over, Ellie & Jayne performed a Christmas song
for us complete with actions that they made up.
All of the nieces and nephews, except for the Nelsons.
We missed them so much!
These cousins love each other!
So cute!
Allen & Janis gave each family these little monkeys that roll around on the
floor laughing. Every time one came close to Will he screamed and tried to get
his toes out of the way. It was hilarious.
Parker wasn't scared at all. The monkeys cracked him up!
After a wonderful Christmas morning of watching Seth & Amy's kids open all of their presents, we drove to my dad's house to spend the day with them. Kim & Clay brought B-Money with them from Provo so he could spend the day with us. He was great! After Tanner gave him a welcome hug he said, "You're tummy is big." B quickly replied, "Yeah, but it's not going to be that way soon!"
B got this little fan as a present from Santa, but Tanner loved it so much that
B-Money wrapped it back up and gave it to him. 

Micah was stoked about his new "Grumpy Old Men" hat:)
Baby Kate
Baby Kate and her mommy
Kate couldn't get enough Pez
After dinner at Dad's we came home to sleep at our house. Micah and I
finished our Christmas together. I've loved our real tree, homemade ornaments,
lights, and nativity in our home. 

These are the homemade chocolates that Grandma Gwen has made for each of her kids
and grandkids for so many years. They're sooo delicious. Even at 90 years old and
with all of her aches and pains she made hundreds of chocolates and boxed them up
according to what each person likes. She's so amazing. 

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Fun New Game

If you're ever lucky enough to get a package of candy and find two gummy life savers stuck together, try this new game: Start with the two gummies balanced on the bridge of your nose and try to get them into your mouth - no hands! Here goes Micah:



























We have a winner!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Pirate Island with B-Willie

Every time that Micah sells a house we "celebrate" by going out to eat, getting dessert, or doing an activity. I got a great deal for Pirate Island on Groupon for pizza, dessert, and tons of arcade tokens so I surprised Micah and brought B-Money and Willie along to sweeten the deal.

Arrrgh!
I wouldn't want to be racing these two drivers out on the road!

Willie was one fast cowboy with the wac-a-mole. I couldn't stop laughing all night!
It was so much fun!

Two little pirates
Two more pirates
Ski ball was  big hit!

Micah played this game and hit the jackpot - literally! He got 100 tickets. Over a month
later we asked Willie what he thought about the night and he said, "I remember that Micah
hit the jackpot!" 

Redeeming our tickets for some pirate treasure. Willie was really excited to get his
pirate eye patch.

What do you get when you cross a cowboy and  pirate?

A cowboy and his noble steed:)

The boys - doing what they know best

Willie was a great shot!
On our way out of the arcade, we passed a dance floor that was calling our name. B-Money gave me the pleasure of the first dance and couldn't help but smile as we twirled around together. Then I got Willie out there (B got a little jealous that he lost his dance partner;) and we got some instruction on salsa dancing. He was a natural:) Micah was a gentleman and the other two have all the fun. As fun as Pirate Island was, the dancing was the highlight!



Sunday, September 5, 2010

Micah's Birthday Surprise

For Micah's 34th birthday we took a surprise trip to San Clemente, California. Our friends gave us a weekend at their beach house as a wedding gift, so I planned trip and kept it a secret until we boarded the plane to Long Beach on Thursday evening.

The adventure begins: We got the Long Beach Airport only to find out that I had reserved our rental car at the OC-John Wayne Airport which is just 30 minutes south of Long Beach. So Micah called our friend Jeff whose parent's live nearby to tell him our predicament. He offered many options to help including staying at his parent's, borrowing their car, but this was the best option: (text message conversation)

Text from Jeff: There's a 30-50% chance that any random person is driving right by John Wayne heading south. So strike up some conversations with someone waiting to get picked up. Or talk really loud about it close to them. And I'll bet in 1 to 3 tries you'll be able to get a ride. Better yet ask someone on your flight, cuz then they're mormon and more trusting of you as a fellow mormon.

Micah: Nice idea! Maybe we'll test out your percentages:)

Jeff: Freshman year I got a ride hom from LAX, just made a sign that siad Irvine and stood by where the cars pick people up, and some guy took me all the way home.

Micah: That's it...Here goes. Sign made.



We had talked to a couple asking how far the John Wayne Airport was and told them our situation. Then I got some paper from the JetBlue front desk and since I got us into this predicament I was holding the sign up for people to see. We couldn't stop laughing. Then the lady we had talked to earlier came up and offered us a ride. They were so nice and we enjoyed getting to know them on our 30 minute ride to the next airport. That was our Long Beach Miracle:)

The beach house is amazing! It looks right over the beach and pier...and it's huge! We open the doors for air conditioning and can hear the waves all day and night. It’s so relaxing.

This is the condo. We had that first balcony (all the way around) to ourselves- amazing!

Views from the porch.



Saturday morning. Micah’s bday. Surprise! He looks like a happy birthday leprechaun:)


These are the little presents from Micah’s birthday treasure hunt. Such excitement!



Micah also had his 15 year high school reunion on his birthday. There are few things that Micah REALLY wants to go to, but this is one of them. Luckily we had some Delta credit from our Europe trip since we were delayed 24 hours on our flight home, so we took a vacation from our vacation and flew back to Utah for a day to attend his reunion. It was well worth it. We saw lots of his old time friends and learned about the different joys and challenges that they've faced in that last 15 years. Friends make life so sweet.

Here's my Weber Warrior:


After the reunion we went up to Park City to go see one of Micah's latest real estate purchases. He didn't have the keys to the place yet, but was anxious to see the inside, so he immediately went into MacGyver mode to break into his own place.



On Labor Day we visited the San Juan Capistrano Mission. The architecture was so stylish. The spanish style you see these days was inspired by the early missions such as this one that was established in 1776.


This was a fountain full of lily pads and huge fish right at the entrance of the mission along with pictures of some of the architecture inside.


This is called the great stone church. It used to have seven domes, but now there is only one that remains standing. An earthquake in the early 1800's caused most of the the damage in which 40 people were killed. Still this is one of the greatest and oldest standing ruins in the United States.




This is an alley from inside the Mission.





Across the street we visited the Capistrano Trading Post and found some of the same souvenirs that Micah had seen there over 20 years ago while visiting Capistrano with his family.


On our way back from Capistrano we cruised along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and saw a sweet car with red leather interior. It seemed to fit so perfectly at San Juan Capistrano Beach.
I took pictures along the way...
We also stopped at a thrift shop on the way to the house.
We went boogie boarding in the freezing cold water at San Clemente Beach just down from the beach house where we stayed. It was really fun, but short lived because the water was so cold.

We ate at the Jolly Rogers restaurant at Dana Point that night for dinner. The food was awesome. I ordered the Plantation Ono fish with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Micah got coconut shrimp and teriyaki chicken. They served warm sour dough bread as an appetizer. It was reasonably priced and Cathy our waitress from Minnesota gave fabulous service. Highly recommended.

We ate lunch at The Sugar Shack - great place for breakfast food. Definitely a local's delight.
We don't want to go home tomorrow! This has been such a wonderful trip!