Disney!!!!!!

Back in January (yes, I know how far behind I am) we took a family vacation with most of the Christensen siblings down to California for some M-I-C-K-E-Y time! My aunt is a fantastic travel agent and found a terrific deal for all of us on a week long cruise on the Disney Wonder. We went a few days early so the boys could experience Disneyland for the first time, then boarded our boat for a Mexican adventure. I honestly wasn't sure how the boys were going to do, both on land and at sea, considering they are still only 3 years old, but they ended up having a blast!

Our whole family in front of "Mickey's house" as the boys call it. Every time they see it now on a movie they get so excited and say "We've been there!!" The second pic is of my three boys at the entrance to Disneyland. The boys weren't so sure what to make of the whole thing at first honestly. There were lots of people, hot weather, and scary roller coasters all over the place! Lucas especially was a little freaked out. We took the whole family on the Nemo ride at the very beginning of the day, thinking the little kids would LOVE that one. Well, most of them did. Lucas had a mini breakdown and refused to do any other rides for the rest of the day. :) He just didn't like the dark, and was scared of every building that we went in. So, him and I hung out a lot of the time considering I couldn't go on most of them either (thanks Skittles! :) ), while Daddy and all of the other cousins and aunts and uncles went on rides. We still had a great time though. And of course the best part for the boys was meeting Mickey and all of the other characters. They LOVED Mikey's house, and would probably have stayed in Toontown all day if we let them. :) Buzz was super fun too!
Finally by the end of the day, I convinced Lucas to go on the "car ride" with me (Autopia), telling him that the whole thing was outside and we wouldn't be dark at all. He finally relented when he realized he could actually drive his very own car and Mommy wouldn't help him at all. :) This was his face during the whole ride!!! He absolutely loved it, and that was all he wanted to do the whole rest of our time there. I was so glad that he had a good time as well, and he had me laughing hysterically every single time we went on the ride. He thought that every bump we hit was hilarious and both of us were crying laughing by the time it was done. :)
The last night of Disneyland, we splurged with the rest of the family and had dinner at the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was a really fun experience and we had a great time together. I definitely want to go back there!
On Sunday, we drove down to the cruise terminal in LA and boarded our Disney Wonder!
The boys weren't so sure what to make of everything at first. We had a tiny room with no windows, and there was water all around us! Kind of a new experience for them. :) Teage and I had never been on a cruise before either, so none of us really new what to expect.

Our week was really fun on the boat. We sailed down through Mexico with stops in Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallerta. We were supposed to stop in Mazatlan as well, but with all of the violence happening there, Disney modified our trip just a bit, which was fine by me. :) The week actually went by really quickly. The boys swam in the Mickey pool every single day, even when it wasn't the warmest in the world. They loved playing soccer and basketball on the top deck with Daddy, playing ping pong, watching the shows in the evening, and of course, meeting all of the characters. I have so many pictures of characters I could possibly fill three entries! I think that was their favorite part by far. They thought they were so special that the characters would want to come on "their" boat with them! There was a play area where we could drop the kids off for a while, but the boys didn't like it much, so we just spent every day together as a family (I loved it!). I love this picture of Teage with Captain Jack Sparrow......they were trying to intimidate each other the whole time. :) And the third pic is of all of the cousins together (minus 4 month old Mila) in the amazing Mickey pool. They all had so much fun together!

Of course the whole week we ate ourselves silly......a perfect situation for Teage and his siblings! :) These pictures were from the formal night we had on the ship where everyone dressed up and had a fancy dinner. I am so glad we got a picture of the whole Christensen Clan on the formal night......aren't we a handsome group? :)

During the last stop at Cabo San Lucas we decided to get off and explore a bit. I was thankful to get off of the ship for a little while, and the day was a really nice one. We walked around for a while and went to a few markets with Teage's family. Then Tawna's family, Sunni, and our family decided to rent a little boat and get up close and personal with the ocean life of Mexico. I am so thankful we did, I think this was one of my very favorite experiences of our whole trip. We saw sea lions up close, had a glass bottom on our boat to see all of the fish, and the boys absolutely LOVED it! I was worried they would be scared by the boat, but they had an absolute blast! Then the driver dropped us off on the beach for about an hour to hang out and play in the water. Dylan loved the ocean and was hooked the minute we got off the boat. Lucas wasn't so sure, but still had a great time on the beach with me. The third picture down is one of my favorites....Dylan being swung up in the air by Daddy on a beach in Mexico....love it! He had such a great time!

These last ones are from our very last night on the ship. We had a great dinner and said goodbye to our amazing server and assistant server (Line from France and Julio from Mexico) who we loved! They were so good to us all week and we had a lot of fun with them.....what good sports with all of our crazy kids! Overall, we had a wonderful week. It was fabulous to spend some time with the Christensen family, experience something new on our cruise, and just watch the boys light up with excitement every time Mickey came around the corner. Their adorable faces are priceless. Thanks for making our big family trip a successful one Mickey!

Start of the Season

Go Mariners!!!!!!!! First game of the season.....the boys are so excited that they are finally playing again!

Sports Class!!!

As most of you already know, the boys are slightly obsessed with baseball. Just slightly. :) I love this actually. I love baseball as well, so it is so much fun to share this love with my children. However, I did think that to be a good mother, I should probably introduce them to a few other sports as well, just to be thorough. :) So, we enrolled the boys in a "sports sampler" class at our local community center with one of their buddies last quarter. They spent three weeks playing soccer, three playing baseball, and three playing basketball. This is the first "class" that they have ever attended, so I was so excited to watch them go through all of the sports, as well as learn to better take direction, interact with the other children, etc. It was a really great experience for them. I think what I came out of the entire class with is the assurance that my boys don't just love sports, they are actually pretty good athletically. I was pretty darn impressed! Especially with Dylan's dribbling ability! We had so much fun watching them!!!

First weeks of soccer! Their little friend Sydney is the one that is crouching down in the first picture. The boys had a lot of fun with her! Second one is Lucas kicking the ball down the "field" and last one is Dylan doing his best to be a goalie. He was extremely serious about his job!

Their favorite, BASEBALL! It was hilarious because once the instructors found out that the boys had played before, they kept moving the tee further and further back so the boys wouldn't hit anyone!

First pic is Lucas doing his best to make a basket, and the second is Dylan getting ready to spring! Both of them were also very serious about "guarding" the hoop when the other team would try to score a basket....so adorable.

The boys and Sydney at the end of the session, with their instructors Coach Katie and Coach Joy. They were so patient and kind with all of the children, and the boys just loved both of them. We will definitely be going back for more!

Teage's big 33!

Catching up....

Teage's birthday was last month, the big 33 years old, and since I have still been sick (and mainly in the evenings), I asked some of his old buddies to come and kidnap him for the night. And they all were so generous and took the day to have fun with Teagers for his birthday. We even had a buddy come all the way up from Oregon. What great friends we have! They came and kidnapped him for the night, went to dinner, and just hung out and did "guy" stuff. Teage had a great time. Then some of his family came over on his actual birthday date for dinner and we had a little party here. We feel so blessed to have so much family around who love us!

Happy Birthday my love!!! I love you!

PS- You will always be two years older then me! :)

Silly boys....

The boys have been so animated lately, it is a ton of fun. They surprise me everyday with something they have learned, or heard and are repeating. :) Dylan's favorite thing to do right now is to put his head right next to my belly and sing Skittles a song, then when he is done he will pop his little head up and ask "Is she kicking Mom?"

Lucas loves to sing at the moment and will make up songs whenever he gets a chance. Most of them don't make much sense, because he will use made up words and every once in a while stick in an "Ichiro" or "Mariners" within the song somewhere. He is SO serious about it though! He will just go on and on with "blah blah blah lalala.....Mariners!" for quite a while. I love to listen to him! If he is really concentrating on something, he won't even realize that he is singing! So adorable!

Dylan always amazes us with his phrases and little quips that come out of his mouth. Teage was asking him the other day about what Skittles will like to do when she is older, and of course Dylan said that she will like to play baseball (just like her big brothers!). Then Teage said "Well, when she plays baseball, what position will she play?" Dylan thought about it for a while and finally said "THE BASE!" We were laughing so hard!

Both boys are really into board games right now as well. There is one in particular that they got for Christmas called the LadyBug Game. In it, there is a Preying Mantis that you have to pass or you go back to the start. So the other day, Lucas was giving us one of his "shows" and I told him to finish it up because it was time for bed. So, instead of saying "goodbye everyone!" or something to that effect, he comes out with "Bug Off Mantis!!!" I was seriously dying laughing!

The other day I was trying to finish up some photos and put them on DVD when Dylan woke up from his nap. I asked him if he could just hang out with me for a minute while I finished up, so he sat patiently and waited for about 5 minutes. Then after I was done he turned to me and said "Good job Mom, you are such a hard worker!"

Boy do I love these little men!!! So thankful that they keep me smiling all the time!!! :)

Sunbeams!

I feel like my little boys are growing up so quickly! Every day they are doing something new, hilarious, and unexpected. Just last night they started performing "shows" right before bedtime, where they pretend to be a talk show host and interview baseball players. It is so hysterical!

This year they 'graduated' from nursery at church into what is called Sunbeams. Basically a class of 3 turning 4 year olds where they have their very own teacher, learn new songs, and have their own Sunday school lesson together. Being in Sunbeams is a big deal to these little guys because it means that they are now a part of Primary in our ward, the group of "big kids"! The boys were a bit apprehensive about the whole thing the first week, but once they saw that their teacher was someone they knew, they have been just fine every week when I drop them off. And they can't wait to show me their new art project or sing their new song when I come pick them up. I love it. I love hearing their stories and seeing the joy on their faces.

Congratulations on 'graduating' D and L! Mommy is so proud of you for being such big boys!!

News

Just in case anyone hasn't seen my facebook, or talked to my husband in the last little while (he is pretty excited, it is cute)......we are having a:

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

Lights Everywhere!

My Dad's family loves Christmas lights! Every year they get more and more elaborate, have more and more sight-seers come by, and donate more and more food to the local food bank. They were beautiful this year, including a lake with a stream coming down the yard, new stand-up flowers, and candy cane lane with accompanied by motion and music.

And the grand total for food donation this year? 811 POUNDS!!! Amazing!

Christmas Celebrations 2010

The boys were so excited about Christmas this year, it made it even that much more fun for me and Teage. And we are very thankful to have so many family members around, that we had many fun celebrations to attend. I hope that all of you had a fabulous Christmas as well!
On Christmas Eve morning we had Teage's side of the family over for brunch. Teage's dad ended up driving down to see his mother in Utah earlier that week, so his brother and his family came over to celebrate and open presents. We ate a ton, and opened a ton, and just had a great time watching all of the boys get excited about gifts.

Christmas Eve night, after we went to visit Santa Claus and get pictures (which turned out adorable this year!), we went over to my Mom's house to celebrate with our immediate family. My two brothers and our sister-in-law were there as well, and my Mom and Dan surprised us all with a huge crab dinner! Teage was in heaven! :) Everyone watched as the boys devoured their presents, we all ate and laughed and had a wonderful time together.

Christmas morning was fun for the four of us. We stayed home and for the first time, really had a discussion about the true meaning of Christmas, why we give gifts, etc. And the boys of course were excited about Santa Claus and his special stockings as well. We had so much fun with our little family in our PJ's, eating Swedish pancake breakfast, and playing with our new toys. I felt so special to have such a wonderful family to celebrate with.

That afternoon we went over to my Dad's house to celebrate with my immediate family over there. All of my siblings actually waited for us to arrive before opening presents (wow! :) ), so we made a huge mess as the two grandparents, five children including Teage, and two grandchildren all went wild with gifts. It was such fun chaos! The boys loved every minute of it. We stayed that day and had a wonderful lunch and watched movies, just relaxing and enjoying the family. It really was a fabulous day!

The next day was Sunday, so the boys dressed up in their best outfits and we went to church for a neat Christmas celebration. Then after church we were able to go meet the members of our extended Bailey family for a party at the community center near our home. I loved being there with all of these family members, some of which I only get to see once a year. I honestly feel so blessed to have so many family members close by, and so many that love our family and whom I love so very much. I know that I am an extremely lucky girl.