Catch up....

So now that we are done with Christmas :), I turn back in time and blog about our trip to Utah over the Thanksgiving holiday. Just a few weeks overdue. :)

Teage's brother Brook got married last month in Utah, and our family was grateful to be able to hitch our way down there to be a part of his special day. Well, we didn't actually hitch, we took a plane ride with Brett, Beth, and Kai, which was a lot of fun. And added bonus, this was the very first plane trip for the boys. And boy did they have two completely different reactions to this new experience. :) Dylan was so excited, couldn't stop smiling, and looked out the window the entire flight. Lucas, on the other hand, freaked out the minute he saw the plane, wouldn't stop crying for the first few minutes, and only calmed down once we were in the air and he realized the plane wasn't going to hurt him. :)

We had a fabulous time in Utah. The boys were able to spend a lot of time with their cousin Kai, as we stayed in the same hotel, we were able to spend a lot of quality time as a family, and we were able to see Teage's siblings and extended family that we don't see very often. Brook's wedding was beautiful, we were so thankful to be a part of it. And the woman that he chose is just amazing. I am so grateful to have her as a part of our family. Brook and Susie seem perfectly suited for each other, and I couldn't be happier for them. We were able to have a Thanksgiving dinner with Teage's family while we were there as well, which was nice since we don't see all of them often, especially on holidays. Overall, it was a fabulous trip. And it was wonderful to get away as a family for a while.

Congratulations Brook and Susie!

Gorgeous Susie with all of her inherited nieces and nephews. :)

D and L with Kai up at the mountains

And then the three of them on top of a random fire truck. They were pretty stinkin excited!

All of the cousins all dressed up! Aren't they adorable?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We feel so blessed this time of year especially. We are thankful for all of our family and friends, all those wonderful people who shape our lives everyday. We are grateful for all of the many blessings that our Heavenly Father has given us, especially the gift of his son Jesus Christ whom we celebrate this holiday season. We love all of you and hope that you have a fabulous Christmas. Thank you for being a special part of our lives!

Website

Hi everyone! My new website it now live, so go check it out if you have a minute! :)

www.erinchristensenphotography.com

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season so far!

Love, Erin

Starting to Feel Like Christmas

The boys are getting so excited about Christmas coming up. They still don't quite understand what the presents are all about, but they sure do get excited about Christmas lights! They made me drive around the other day for a half hour just so they could see all of the lights around our neighborhood. :) We were actually in Utah for Thanksgiving this year (more on that later), but as soon as we got home we began setting up decorations, putting up the tree, and listening to fun Christmas music. I absolutely LOVE the season!

The other day the boys and I were thinking about something fun to do and I suggested making Christmas cookies for someone else. The boys have been watching Elmo and the Firetruck almost everyday for a while now (their current obsession), and so they decided that they would like to take cookies to the firefighters. I thought it was a fabulous idea! So, we spent all day making sugar cookies, decorating them with fun frosting and sprinkles, and getting excited about visiting the firehouse.

So yesterday, we went down to our local firehouse in Snoqualmie to take the firefighters some yummy (wonderfully decorated :) ) cookies. The fire chief was so sweet to the boys. He didn't have any emergency he was taking care of at the moment, so he let the boys go in the house and tour a bit, and even sit up in the firetruck to "drive"! The boys were just in heaven. After getting over a little nervousness, they were so excited about the firetruck and could not stop talking about it the rest of the day!

Also, if anyone is interested in an amazing light show, go visit my Dad's house this year for a family activity! Every year he spends months putting up Christmas lights for other's enjoyment and this year he went above and beyond! Over 60,000 lights on one house! If you want to visit (it is definitely more amazing in person), his address is:

2509 227th Pl NE

Sammamish, WA 98074

And if you can, bring a canned food item as well! They have a bin out front that will all go to their local food bank! Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

It is a jungle in here!

OK, now that we are up to speed with our "privateness" (I know, that isn't even a word....hehe), let us commence on all of the amazing wonderful fantastic activities that my family has been doing since we last blogged.....

The boys really enjoyed Halloween this year! Since costumes are so expensive, and they still aren't to the point where they can completely voice their opinion on everything, Teage and I decided to get them adorable full length costumes from Costco this year. $10, can't beat it, considering we have to buy two in the same size! :) I went practical.... They loved them though. We told the boys that the elephant was Horton, and they just ate it up. Dylan really wanted to be the giraffe from the jungle as well, so it all worked out. Both boys were a little timid about knocking on doors of people they did not know, but once they figured out they were getting candy out of the deal, they were pretty darn excited! I think that the best part of the whole thing was their little bums in their costumes, so adorable!

All of us at the ward Halloween party

Doesn't Teage look freaky? :) He even made a little girl cry...

Then a few weeks ago Teage and I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer at the Cystic Fibrosis Gala in Seattle. They have been doing this amazing black tie event for over 20 years now, and it has most recently been raising over 2 MILLION dollars a year! We were so thankful to be a part of it. We went early in the morning to help set up, had dinner with all of the volunteers, and then got dressed up and helped with the silent auction portion of the evening. We met some amazing people, saw some amazing donations given, and were really moved by all of the attendance and generosity of others. I know that Jolene was so happy to see us there.

Teage and I all dressed up and ready to go, and me with my brother Christopher.

And one more for good measure.....a cute little shirt that Teage found at Old Navy a little while ago. Hilarious!

Private

OK, too many random comments from people we don't know. And, I tend to be a little protective of my kids, so we have decided to make our blog private. I know, I know, I can hear the growns now.....it just worries me a bit when I am getting comments from random people about random things, who knows who could be reading about my family! So anyway, if you would like to have access to our Christensen family blog, please either leave me a comment here with your email address so I can invite you, or email me at erinbeth1@hotmail.com , and I will add you to the list! Happy Blogging!! :)

Rascal Flatts!!!!!!!!

So, like many others have said before me, blogs tend to lean in the direction of "everything is perfect" land. :) I definitely don't believe that that reflects reality, and definitely not the reality of my family's life specifically. So, I have decided to write not only about the good and great of our lives, but also the not-so-greats as well. :) However, this is not the post to begin that trend.....this post is about RASCAL FLATTS!!!!!!!!

When I heard that Rascal Flatts were coming to town, I didn't waste a minute getting tickets to their concert. And once Teage heard that Darius Rucker was opening, he was just as excited about it as I was. What a combination!! And my mom was wonderful to offer to watch the boys for us for the night so we could make a great date out of it! We went into Tacoma early, got to go to dinner, rode the Light Rail to the Tacoma Dome, and watched an AMAZING concert!!!!!

Darius began the concert playing his old Hootie songs, as well as his new country flavor. :) He was amazing. We could tell that he was having so much fun with his new band, playing the songs that he loves so much.

Then came my favorite band, Rascal Flatts! They definitely put on a show!!! They played everything that I wanted to hear, except for 'Everyday'. But all of their songs were amazing. They all seem to have so much fun playing in front of a crowd, and even brought up a little girl to sing with them for one song. They were all singing, dancing, playing the piano, and having a ton of fun. It was such a wonderful concert! We had so much fun, were exhausted by the end from singing and dancing the whole time, and were so blessed to be able to stay in a fancy hotel without kids for a night (yeah for priceline!). And one of the most memorable parts of the evening, Darius came back out onto the stage at the very end of the concert and played 'Life is a Highway' with Rascal. It was so amazing to watch all four of them together!

What's going on...

We have had a few busy, well, months lately. Isn't it always that way? Once the summer is over everyone feels like things will calm down, but most often it turns out to be just the opposite! :) Teage just asked me the other day if we were going to have any weekend coming up that there was nothing going on....and I had to tell him "probably not". :) We have had a lot of fun together as a family though. And we love any opportunity to do that.

The bad part, Teage was sick a few weeks ago and had to stay put in bed for quite a while. The boys were a huge help though, being his little helpers. They loved being able to bring him food, or take his temperature. :)The good part, after Teage got better I was able to go and have some Mommy time with my wonderful friend Karine. Both of us had been a little stressed lately, so we decided to have a few hours to ourselves and go into Seattle for the day. It was FABULOUS! All we did was eat, chat, walk around Pike Place, and eat and chat some more. I can't even tell you how rejuvenating it was for both of us.

The boys have been having lots of fun lately as well. They are getting into this really fun stage right now. Both are learning so much lately, and love to tell you all about anything new they have learned that day! Dylan especially loves to repeat everything that I say, and sometimes coming from a two year old, that sounds pretty darn funny. :) Both boys are wanting to be just like Daddy as well. This is how I found Lucas the other day, as he said "Bye Mommy, I go to work!" Of course everyone who goes to work needs their Lightening McQueen PJ's, fire fighter helmet, camera, and cell phone!

Then two weekends ago we were able to go with some of our buddies to celebrate our friend Nick's 30th brithday. They rented a "cabin" for the weekend in Eastern Washington, and so of course I pictured a rustic outdoorsy experience, but this is what we saw when we pulled the car up on Friday:

GORGEOUS! We loved every minute of that weekend. All we did was hang out with friends, play games (Mafia!), eat tons of food, hang out with the kiddos, and go on walks. That was just about it. Happy Birthday to Nick! Thanks for having a birthday so we could have such a fabulous weekend with all of you!

We love baseball!

D and L LOVE baseball. They love everything about baseball. They would play baseball in their sleep if possible. We even found them their own little man mitts at Goodwill the other day (huge find!), and they adore them. They feel like real baseball players now! :)

Mommy: "D and L, who is your favorite baseball player?"

D and L (in unison): "ICHIRO!"

Mommy: "What are you going to be when you grow up?"

D and L: "Baseball PLAYer!" (They always seem to emphasis the first syllable in player)

Mommy: "What do you guys want to do today?"

D and L: "Hit the ball FAR!"

I love it. Thankfully, I am a huge fan myself, so this is fun for me as well. I can't wait to enjoy little league games with all of the other proud moms watching their kids run the wrong way, hit the ball two feet in front of them, and pick at the grass while in the outfield. What a great game!

PS- They got to high five the Mariner Moose at our last Mariner game a few weeks ago, and have been talking about their "buddy" the moose ever since!

Sleep or no sleep.....

The boys have decided that they do not want to take naps anymore.....at just over two years old. Hoorey for me! :)

Any ideas of how to help these boys settle down and sleep? Remember, I have two two-year olds in the same room (though still in cribs), already have black out fabric on the windows, and have tried EVERYTHING that I can think of to get them to go to bed!!!! Any suggestions?????????

My little angels....

Yeah for Team Jolene!

I had the great pleasure to raise money again this year with some others for Team Jolene, in memory of our good friend Jolene Armstrong who passed away in 2006 from complications from Cystic Fibrosis. All money we raised goes directly to the CF Foundation, who I have been thankful to work closely with the past three years. They are a fabulous foundation, run by terrific people of integrity, and I really enjoy raising money for Jolene with these amazing people.

This year specifically, Erin Jones and I put together a Clothing Exchange Fundraiser for our team. We had friends and family bring over gently used clothing, as well as a donation to the CF Foundation, and we all had a great night of eating, chatting, exchanging clothing, and talking about Jolene and her beautiful example to all of us. What a great night!

Erin, Kim, and myself buried in clothes!

Then last weekend my whole family had the opportunity to walk in the Great Strides Walk for CF that we have every year. This is more of a celebration walk, to commemorate the fund-raising year and recognize those who have helped to contribute to the cause. We had so much fun walking for Jolene, chatting with all of the other wonderful people there who support CF, and helping out with the event. I only wish that I could have done more this year!! We had so much fun with everyone though, cheering those on who were walking and the children with CF who were present, playing with all of the children there, eating a great lunch provided by Sherms BBQ. And we were even more energized for the next year! We love you Jolene and promise to keep your spirit and example alive!
Dylan eating a donut getting ready to walk. :) Doesn't he look cute in his new CF shirt?
Lucas helping me at the registration table. Though I feel like I didn't do much to help!
Team Jolene!

Me and beautiful Kaitie. Her mom and dad are the ones who run the Great Strides Walk in our area. They are a beautiful family and I am thankful to work with them!

The boys and I ready to walk!

Teage and the boys walking along the route!

Our Team Jolene flava.....