Happy Holidays!

I cannot believe I have let my blogging/journeling go this long without a post. So much has been happening and I guess I have just been on a mental hiatus! I have lots to write about..soon.... updates will happen soon.

for now..

Happy Holidays!!

Here is our lovely traditional xmas Eve super fast photo shoot my the tree!(it was suppppppppppper late)and seriously the kids wanted to torture joey and have him in every Christmas shot! they ADORE this dog..and Adore is a HUUUGE understatement!

These boys are whats it is all about!

Love,
the Christensen's

The Dandelion

Last night, I was heading up to bed, to do the usual routine..brush teeth..get in jammies...go pee..kiss my boys goodnight for the millionth time, you know, the usual stuff we all do before all head off to "dreamyland." I walked into my bathroom and found this.





Now, I mentioned in earlier posts, that my little gavin loves to surprise me with these little treasures! He loves to give them to me.

Last night, after I saw this, it truly made me smile from EAR to EAR. I was soo grateful for this little surprise. I sat and looked at how he carefully placed it in the water to keep it alive as long as he could. I love how he used one of his cups he uses after he brushes his teeth to rinse. I love how it was probably a used one because there was a smudge of toothpaste or something on the side of the cup. I love how he cleared off a small portion on my counter to place it right in front for me to see. I love how the flower must have been there most of the day because it had definitely seen better days. I love that he never said a word about this. We both went about our day. I love how he kept this a secret all day, even from his big brother, who he tells everything too. I love how he planned it out, and he knew that after a long day I would wind up in the bathroom to get ready for bed.

My little man had been out playing outside earlier in the day. I remember him telling me he needed to run upstairs for something..but I didn't think anything of it. Our busy lives happened.

It was amazing to me how much that little dandelion meant to me. It MELTED my heart!

This morning, after little gavinator and I had gotten the con man off to school..he came up and gave me a huge hug. I told him that mommy loved him soo much and that he gave me the best surprise EVER. He then got the cutest little smirk/smile on his face and said, "mommy, I surprised you mommy! Is it still in the water..? If it ever dies..ill get you a new one." He was sooo excited. It melted my heart again.

He just really know how to get to my heart. I have the bestest boys in the world!
Watch out ladies..this little ladies man MINE.

The little things that make my heart smile.

There has been sooo much craziness going on in this household, that I wanted to get out and do something I knew the kids would LOVE...pumpkin patch's.

Except..this year we haven't been to any.... And this year we would be minus one cute daddy. The kids promised to take lots pictures for daddy.

In p_town, we would probably visit over 10 pumpkin patches in the months of sept/oct. We had a tradition to go to as many as we could fit in. It was always a super cheap and fun adventure to take the kids on.

We have had a rough spout with tough luck lately ...so yesterday I wanted to get away. I wanted to get away, and do something with my boys! I wanted to do s,omething that I knew would take us all out of our funk, and make us happy. I called up my parents. I loaded up my kids, and off to grandma and grandpas we went.

We deiced to go to a cute little pumpkin patch by their house. Lets just say, it was just what the Dr ordered. I am not sure who had more fun..me, my boys, or my parents. It was nice to escape the pressure of my everyday life, and just take some time to to enjoy the simple things in life.

The winter weather has definitely settled in good ol Ut. It has rained/snowed off and on for the last 3 days. Yesterday, it was a high of 40 degrees maybe. The weather cleared out for a few hours and it was PERFFECT! The sky was perfectly clear,..The clouds were AMAZING,...the air smelled amazing,..and you could see the first snowfall that had just fallen on the mountains. It was a perfect day. We even enjoyed the MUD. I almost got my silver bullet stuck in this clay like mud..which would of added to the humor of everything seems to go wrong..i would have had to call triple AAA..but thank goodness the good ol' van pulled through, and i was able to get out! Phew! I didnt even mind the mass of mud we all accumulated on our shoes!(thanks dad for cleaning those for us!)

I wish i could have recorded my kids excited screams of joy when they say the snow on the mountains. It was cute because Gavinator saw the mountains. He then asked me if I could take him back to "Mountain HOod"(thats what my boys call MT. HOOD) to go sledding. I told him this year he wouldn't need to travel to "mountain hood" to see snow..that this year there would be snow in his own backyard.. both boys squealed with delight. They were so baffled that snow would be in their own yard to play with..For them it was the best news EVER! The fact that they would not have to travel to great lengths to get to it made them sooo HAPPY. It cracked me up!

I mean really...these would make any ones heart smile.















I just want to say how much I love these little Guys! They make life worth it!

water chestnuts

Tonight we sat down for our first family dinner in a looong time. The boys chose stir fry..its a family favorite.

We are all eating enjoying every bite..when conner turns to me and tells me how much he loves waterchestnuts. I tell him he must get that from me...because i too love water chestnuts. He then stops eating and I can tell he is thinking. He then asks, "mom...where do water chestnuts come from..? do they come from treasure chests?"

Before I have a chance to respond, gavin asks us, "please pass the treasure nuts?"

he didnt even reaize what we were saying, and he too wanted some more waterchestnuts! We all cracked up.
...and we laughed. Just what i needed.

Man it is sooo good to be home to my boys. I have missed them terribly.

A month has already come and Gone

I cannot believe a month, actually more..has actually come and gone. I feel like i am still in this crazy bad dream and i need to be woken up. We have had quite the whirlwind of trials around us, but we are alive. We are enduring and we are making it through.

In the last month, We have moved into our new home. We barely started to get a little bit settled, when we had to turn around and come back to Ptown to get jesses poor foot checked out. Once the swelling went down we both saw that is clearly wasnt healing correctly. And since the good ol health insurance was in portland..we packed into the van and headed back up to PTown.

In a month we have:
*packed up house and moved to a new state
*got to see family!
*had the besties hitch a ride with the Shane Myster while he hauled down a second 24 foot trailer to our house from portland because we ran out of room on the first trailer(we had WAAY more jumk than we thought we did)
*had the besties surprise me in utah and help unpack and decorate(first time ever i have been speechless before) and cannot thank them enough for what they did for us
*spent about 32 hours in our little silver bullet commuting back and forth to utah then back to portland.
*got to see our BESTIES
*Got to enjoy their adorable kids
* kids got to miss almost a total of 4 weeks of school due to the move and then the sudden trip back up to ptown.
*got to enjoy a good ol highschool football game
*Had 3 docs mis diagnose J's injury in the first place
*instantly became a foot legend in the orthopedic doctorate world
*learned all about the les Franc injury and how shocked docs were to find out this is really what J had..and watch as multiple people who worked at the clinic would come in just to take a look
*spent hours on end in hospital
*endured major surgery..a bone graph from knee...fusing of the bones together..6 screws and slicing of the calf muscle to shorten it and help remake an arch.
*J mastered his crutches( a good thing since he will be on them for 3 months)
*Told lots of "screw" jokes due to the screws in jesses foot
*had my sis nickname J the bionic foot man!
*kids got strep..the bestie totally helped take care of them the day of jesses surgery...that was one of the hardest days EVER..but i was soo grateful to my bestie..sad as it was..it was a huge blessing they got sick b4 they went back to utah so i could take them to the doc and get it taken care of with health insurance.
*kids got to enjoy a plane ride back to utah with gramma
*kids have been having a blast with gramma...cousins..aunts and uncles..and have been amazingly cared for by the family.
*spent 3.5 days in the hospital..and happened to get the stinkiest of room/floor
*endured listening to the man in the room next to us at the hospital cough, scream out loud and wretch over and over
*made it through hardest part of recovery
*learned to take things one day a time, sometimes 10 min at a time
*been able to enjoy a continental breakfast almost every morning
*Shed lots of tears
*lots of alone time to think and ponder
*lived in a rockin hotel room for almost 2 weeks
*Had the besties make some amazing meals for us..like super amazing
*had the incisions revealed last week and could not believe what i saw. I was in shock (pics to follow soon)
*found out my little niece who is only 1 broke her foot..so ive tried to talk j into a hot pink cast to match hers!(sadly dont think he will go for it)
*had the laptop totally break ,infected with a virus,then found the COOLEST COMPUTER repair shop that was able to fix it for only 40 bucks..(another miracle)
*been away from the kids for what feels like an eternity..We have not liked it one bit
*realized and actually feel at peace that utah is where we should be.
*read one almost two books(a miracle itself)

IT has been a whirlwind, and i am really anxious to get back home to my kids. We are on the countdown now...less than 3 days if all goes well tomorrow at the follow up apt. It has been quite the month. Cant wait to get back to my kids. We are actually ready to get back to the promised land...lets hope this next month is alot less exciting.
I am ready for some normelness(if that is a word)
Here is to our apt tomorrow that everything will be ok..here is to one heck of a month..and here is to another 14 hour car ride back to the promised land.

Difficult Chapter to close

So I have for sure neglected my thoughts, and journeling on this blog lately, due to the extreme craziness around here. I have been meaning to document what we have been doing..but every time I sit down to get my thoughts gathered..it would just be too hard and i have been soo busy, I couldn't follow through. I am pretty sure from here on out nothing can be as hard to get through, or as difficult as this last year has been that's for sure. We are heading in with Faith that we are ready for our upward hill of good things to happen!


As we speak..the house has been torn upside down.Here is some picture proof!








We are getting ready for our "Fresh Start" and making our way back to the "promised land". The land where I actually thought I would never return to.

But the upside, this "promised land" is where our family's reside...so it will be UBBER nice to be able to see them more than once or twice a year. The kids are suuuuuper EXcited to live close to grandpa's and grandma's and cousins. The boys have been doing amazingly awesome as we have gotten the packing kicked into high gear. they haven't shown much stress at all for the relocating..they are both excited. For me that is a huge blessing. I will also enjoy being able to see my long lost nieces and nephews that will visit ut..because every other time they have been..we have been here so i am really excited to make that relationship with them!

But of course as luck would have...exactly 5 days ago..and also one week from when we are to depart from this amazing land in Oregon,my hubby broke his foot. (This will have to be a blog post in and of itself)....it is really sad it happened, but it does kinda make me laugh thinking about the story behind it. J has been going crazy not being able to help with the packing and moving. Though i am super grateful he is very happy and super pleasant while he is on his "happy pills". I tell you, it is nice to have him make me, and my friends laugh for hours on end every night. I don't mean just a little laugh..we usually all end up rolling on the floor and some of us have laughed so hard we have literally peed our pants(no names). I tell you, I have decided laughter heals the hurt and sadness, so this has been GREAT therapy for me during this transition.

My hubby and his super cute smile from his Happy pills!


Here are some cool pics of the foot: (these were taken 5 days after the break..)
the swelling is still pretty knarly and the brusing is starting to pop out and say hi






Lets just say the last week has been INSANE. I have only cried, oh, about a BAZillion times.. I have the bestest friends who have been here to help me get through all of this, so i am not alone. I love my friends..like ALOT. They have been through some amazingly hard times with me..and they have helped me to ride through this storm....FOR that I am forever grateful for them...I heart you my besties..(you know who u are!) I love you sooo much!

I also am grateful for my family. We have had an outpouring of love and support as they too have all stepped up to help us with the relocating back to this "promised land". I truly have the best family one could ask for. I heart you too family members(you know who u are!)The sacrifice that soo many have made to help..either a phone call to say they love me or those that have stopped their busy lives to help me with the move have meant more to me than you will ever know..thank you!

Well..I will have to write and post more about some really fun adventures of our time in Ptown! I love it here..I will miss you OREGON! LIKE ALOT! You will forEVER have a SPECIAL PLACE in my heart..and I hope one day, i can make my way back here! This will prob be the last post before we head off in the uhaul in just 3 short days...:(
Destination: the "promised land"

My baby turned 4!!

I cannot tell you how crazy it is that my little baby is the Big 4 years old! ..It just blows my mind he is soo big..I still remember this...





It seems just like yesterday that I was admitted into the hospital... and the doctor told me i would not leave until I had my little man going home with me!!


**(warning)** you will see a hugely prego bare belly! carry on at your own risk)



I waited as patiently as I could, while laboring by my lonesome.. while my husband had to drive over from work..in the worst traffic EVER..about 2 hours to to exact!..but thank goodness...He made it!

I was able to have J's sister(my sis in law), the one and only Alex (aka bethany) also be able to be there....


I am also soo grateful I was able to have one of my besties aka Miguel(love love her nickname) be there to witness the birth of gavin! It meant soo much me to me to have her there..and I know this is something I will NEVER EVER FORGET! I am soo happy that i was able to share this moment with her!!






..............Then at 12:04 am on August 1st, 2006...the Gavinator made his Debut!!
He weighed in at 6lbs 13oz!




Our little family!!




Little Gavintar is such a joy! He is always making us laugh! He says the funniest things! I just love him to pieces! I love that still every night he wants to snuggle his mama and he still plays with my hair the way he did when he was just a baby. I love that the first thing he does when he wakes up..is he runs into my room just to snuggle me and get his loves in. I love that about 5 min into snuggling he asks every morning without missing a beat, "im hungry..can u get me breakfreast"! I love that he tells me he loves me to the "stop sign and back..and also to his bones and back" I love that he and his big brother are the best of friends. They of course fight like no other on occasion..but they truly are the BEST of friends. I also love when he comes up to me and asks for "gessert" (dessert)!Its one of those words that I dont want him growing out of..it makes me smile!





This year, with the help of one of my besties ...we created these:




>
Little gavinator was sooo excited about them!

Here I am working hard on these little mini Darth Vader's...


notice the pile of icing on my hand because the bag got a hole in it, and I was trying soo hard not to screw these up!It was a tricky balancing act to keep the lines straight and not spill piles of icing all over them!





He had a blast at his birthday party..we opted for the same "water party" that we did for conner. The kids love the fountains and there is nothing better than hosting a birthday party that ALL the kids LOVE..not to mention it is FREE!!!

Of course this game was once again a #1 hit!



He was super excited to get his "own" scooter, now he and the con man can each haul off like crazy boys up the street.





He is soo funny..he has always been amazing at riding the razor scooter..He started riding a scooter when he was just barely one and a half...and so when he got his own ..he could not wait to do his "tricks" like hold one foot in the air! This picture just makes me laugh..he is soo silly!



I am sooo grateful for this little man! He brings so much joy to our lives!! Happy Birthday little gavinator! We sure love you!!!