Utah Jazz and Grandma Gwen

I'd like to hand it to these fellas tonight...

Big Al, Harris, and Hayward. What a game! After triple overtime they pulled out the win! They fought especially hard because they needed this game to be able to make it to the playoffs. Defending champions Dallas Mavericks definitely made them work for it, their shots were unbelievable up until the very last 3-pointer. but the Jazz ended up 2 points richer at the final, final, final buzzer. Micah and I love watching great basketball together, especially when our team wins:) Our 91 year old Grandma Gwen (Kaylyn Gwenneth's namesake) loves the Jazz and we knew she'd be up watching the game so we called her to celebrate together at almost 11pm. She's the coolest Grandma in the world. We love her so much. Someday I'll try to put into words why she's my hero, but for now I'll leave it to Kaylyn to describe how much I think of Grandma:

This morning I went on a jog with my little sis, completely cleaned and wiped out the fridge, went to Costco with Micah, and then watched the Jazz pull out a great win. Good day.

One Sunday Evening

After church today we went up to Salt Lake for dinner at Eric & Nakita's. On the drive up I read part of "A Parent's Guide"  (published by the LDS Church back in 1985) to Micah and we talked a little about disciplining our children and what a challenge that will be. It's hard to imagine our perfect sweet Kaylyn ever doing anything wrong, but obviously we'll need to help her learn, grow, and make good choices as she discovers and explores the world around her. One line in the booklet read, "The mother and child are constant companions" and I immediately smiled big and said, "Oh I love it!"  I am so enjoying being a mommy and spending my time at home with our baby of 7 months! Kaylyn is at such a fun stage right now and I can't imagine it getting better, yet I know it will. Life is so wonderful that way.

We love the Ellis's so much. Reesie and Ivan are so sweet with Kaylyn and we have so much fun playing with them. After we ate dinner we put all the kids in strollers and walked to Great Aunt Bonnie's house (Grandpa Moyle's sister) in hopes of finding her home. The weather was just right for light jackets and it was a beautiful evening for a walk. Unfortunately, Bonnie wasn't home, but our 45 minute walk was wonderful anyway. Kaylyn and Reese both fell asleep near the end. We visited for a while more before we headed back home. It's so easy and comfortable hanging out with the Ellis's. I think it's because we all like each other so much.

 The Ellis Family

It's great that kids can fall asleep anywhere

All three of us (the Christensen's) were pretty tired for the drive home so as Kaylyn started making her tired noises (sounds like uhhhhh) Micah and I played a silly game to the tune of "Oompa Loompa" from Willy Wonka. I would pose the puzzle or question and Micah would respond. For example:

Together: Oompa Loompa doompadee doo, I've got another puzzle for you
Me: What would you say if you met Jimmer on the street? (as we passed a billboard with Jimmer on it)
Micah: How do you do, gee this is really neat!
Me: What would do if you were married to a chimp?
Micah: I love you anyways Rach (we both cracked up really hard at that one even though it didn't rhyme:)

It kept us both awake and Kaylyn and me entertained. Micah's the best dad and husband. We're so lucky to have him! What an enjoyable Sunday evening.

Precious Moment

My text to Micah this afternoon:
I've been rocking in my chair for the last hour holding Kaylyn while she sleeps and taking turns reading my new book and staring at our sweet and pure daughter thinking how happy and blessed my life is and what I hope for her future. It's so quiet and peaceful. Her sweaty head is stuck to my sweaty arm. A perfect moment. She's just waking so I'll start dinner soon:)

I finished the book in just a few days...it will inspire you. Stephanie Nielson is the author of www.nieniedialogues.com. This is the story of her life.

Here is a quick book preview narrated by Stephanie herself:

Sleepless in Seattle

This last weekend we went up to Redmond, Washington to help Micah's brother get ready for their move to Hawaii. All of the Christensen brothers went up (except for Clay who went up the weekend before) along with Grandpa Allen. It was a last minute trip so ticket prices were almost $600 each. Because of the expense only Micah was going to go, but he found a great deal to buy someone's Southwest credit which cut the ticket cost by over half (that's so Micah:)! So he surprised me two days before we left with a ticket for me as well. We decided to go a day earlier than everyone else (Thursday) so that we could make a mini-family vacation out of it and stay in downtown Seattle.

We took the Light Rail from the SEA-TAC Airport to downtown Seattle. Kaylyn was mesmerized by the passing scenery and didn't take her eyes off the window. She's so curious and aware. 

Micah "Pricelined" The Westin Hotel - a 4-star hotel for only $65 - that was only three blocks from the Light Rail station. We spent the day in Seattle walking all over downtown.We started at our favorite Pike Place Market http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/. Pike Place is so full of variety from food, to colors, to merchandise, to people. We ordered fish & chips and salmon chowder from our favorite Ivar's Restaurant http://www.ivars.com/ then crossed town to go to Feathered Friends and REI - that's part of our tradition when we go to Seattle. After we hung out at the hotel for a while we found a delicious Thai restaurant in a nearby mall called Thai Ginger. We ordered 4 stars of spice and it was just right. We like it hot:) Then we went hot tubbing at the hotel and went to bed a little after midnight. Chancha woke up more than usual and spent a lot of the night cuddled with me in our king size bed. She continued that pattern for the rest of the trip so Micah appropriately named our vacation "Sleepless in Seattle." 

Friday morning we went back to Pike Place for unique breakfast pastries from a little Russian bakery called Piroshky's http://www.piroshkybakery.com/ and hot cocoa and steamed milk from the original Starbucks. I got four pumps of hazelnut flavor in my steamed milk and it was the perfect amount (I want to remember that for next time so I had to document it:). We stopped at Nordstrom Rack and Micah got some cool new shoes. It's rare that Micah buys anything for himself and he uses things for years and years so any time that he finds something he likes I encourage him to get it. 

Kaylyn had breakfast while sitting on a bench outside of the Bavarian Meat shop. Look closely and you'll see what happens when she's not quite focused while feeding and takes lots of breaks. We call it "milk drunk" :)

We wanted to make a surprise visit to Alickya so Micah took this pic and posted it on her FB Wall, then we waited outside in our car hoping that she'd recognize that we were in front of her house and come running out. James and her sister Steph were the only ones at the house at the time so they both started replying to the FB post accusing Micah of using an app to play a mean trick. Little did they know that we were hiding outside. We finally went inside and Alicia came home shortly after. We had a great visit with the Quigley and Nyland families.

Grandpa Allen and Seth playing with Kaylyn.

Cousin Ellie and Kaylyn

Cousin Jayne took such great care of Kaylyn the entire time. She built her  baby forts to lay in,  surrounded her with stuffed animals, and held her binky in until she fell asleep. 

Sam tried to stowaway in the trunk when it was time to leave. We didn't see much of Sam, Nathan, and Andrew during the trip because they were busy playing Nintendo DS or having Nerf gun wars in the basement.

Here's the whole crew. We had a wonderful weekend all together. We went to Sam's basketball game, went to a ward going away party for Seth & Amy where the Christensen brothers played a hilarious game of Family Feud against the Redmond 3rd Ward brothers, I went on a bike ride/run with Jayne, did some basketball drills in the driveway with Ellie before her game (love that one-on-one time:), we barely started cleaning out a closet in their house to pack up, found some awesome deals at Value Village, ate at Frankie's Pizza, visited with Kami, Allie & Boden who came over Sunday morning for a quick visit, and just loved being to able to spend time together with Seth & Amy. Looks like we'll have to  plan a visit to Hawaii soon!

Kaylyn slept the entire flight and drive home. Then of course she was wide awake and ready to party when we got back home at midnight. 

After Kaylyn went down Micah found me asleep in this position for 30 minutes. This morning I told him I was just praying long and hard that Kaylyn would sleep through the night, but turns out we're also Sleepless in Utah:) Thanks for such a fun, spontaneous, and wonderful weekend Micah! We love you!!

Pocket Fetal Doppler

Monday, March 21, 2011
I came home tonight a little after 10pm after a long day of work and studying for hours before I took my human anatomy test at the BYU testing center. I was excited to come home to Micah and relax a little before going to sleep. Little did I know the wonder that awaited me...
Micah was opening up a pink box in the kitchen and I asked him what it was. He said, "I'll tell you in minute." It wasn't five seconds later that I made the connection and asked him, "Is that a baby heartbeat reader?" We both cracked up together as he pulled out the Pocket Fetal Doppler.

After we had gone to our first doctors appointment last Tuesday and heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time, Micah came home talking about how cool it would be to have one of those. He had even noticed at the doctor's office that their little machine was 3megahertz. We joked about how he would just be adding to his collection along with his home strep test that he bought years ago on eBay. As he opened the box on the kitchen counter, I thought that it resembled the home strep test, and that's when I realized what Micah had in store. Leave it to Micah. He thinks of great or funny ideas and like no one else I know he follows through and makes them happen. He makes life so fun, exciting, and full of variety from small things to big. I experience more of life because of the way his mind works coupled with his determination and abilities.

We had fun for the next little while squirting the cold gel on the little microphone and rubbing it around on my belly. It took us a while to hear it at first. We were able to find my slow heartbeat several times, and then we heard the 130+ beats per minute and knew that we had found our little guy (or girl). It was so cool. My pregnancy has been so easy because I haven't felt sick or hardly different at all, so until we actually went to the doctor for the first time I was still wondering if my pants were getting tight just because I was getting chubby. I'm glad there's a baby to go along with that chub:)

What a fun and wonderful time in our lives. It's so sweet to see Micah get excited about it. Mind you his excitement is nothing too demonstrative, but it's in the way he researches about pregnancy and the baby, buys a fetal doppler on eBay for $60, and sometimes says he's nervous, but I know that's also mixed with excited anticipation. I love him so much. He's going to be the best daddy!

Christmas 2010

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

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. 

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!