This One Goes Out to the One I Love

Today, one of my favorite people in the whole world, who also happens to be my sister-in-law, is having a birthday...

Happy 21 Kate!!!

Here are 21 reasons why I love Kate: 

1) She's not afraid to look awesome.

2) She was, is, and always will be a huge troublemaker. The proof is in the pudding ... this one started young (and also started months of investigation and visits to her home by DCFS).

3) She can make me laugh harder than almost anyone. Once, Becca {Scott's other sister} ripped on Kate's nose and said she {Becca} had the best nose in the family. Surprisingly, Sharon {the mom} sort of agreed with Becca saying, "Yes, you do have a great nose." Kate got all up in arms about Sharon not defending her schnoz and then turned to Becca, "Well?!? What about me?" Becca sarcastically replied that at least she had good lobes. I about died! That was all she could come up with? Good earlobes? But Kate looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, smiled and said, "I DO have good lobes. They're meaty!"

4) She is a HUGE part of my kids' lives. I think she might almost love them as much as I do. With newborn Henry...

5) She was brave enough to be in the delivery room when I had Ruby ...
6) ... and took beautiful pictures with her mad photography skillz.
7) She doesn't care what other people think. In high school she'd wear a full sweat suit, moccasins, and pull her hair back in a wet bun (as many days in a row as she could get away with). She has since solemnly declared Monday as "Sweat Pants Monday." Please join her in her religious observance of this holy day.

8) She can bring the freak out in me like nobody's business. Like the time in the car I just bust out singing along with Eminem, "the moment, you own it, you better never let it go, do NOT miss this chance you've got 'cuz opportunity knocks once in a lifetime..." or however that goes. Kate, apparently, thought it was hilarious. She cracked up laughing so hard that I suddenly realized she was NOT laughing with me, she was laughing at me -- here I was, her prehistoric sister-in-law, who has borne children into the world, singing -- or shall I say rapping? -- along with Eminem.

9) She knows how to make time out FUN! {Only a fun aunt would go behind mom's back and sneak over to time out boy and start messin' around. Kate, that's not what time out is for! All my hard work just went down the drain!}

10) She is the biggest Christmas fanatic I have ever met. Last year Sharon said she was too tired to put up and take down Christmas decorations (mind you, Kate lives away at college). She might as well have just told Kate that she herself killed Santa, the Easter Bunny, and Bambi in one fell swoop. Kate was shocked, horrified, outraged, and deeply, deeply hurt. Which leads me to my next point...

11) Kate is the master of all major manipulators. She can convince almost anyone to do almost anything. So ... guess who ended up putting up all the Christmas decorations last year?

12) Speaking of Christmas ... she is shameless about her excitement for opening presents. Birthdays, Hanukkah, Memorial Day -- you name it -- she wants presents! Every year she rigs the siblings exchange in Christensen family so things work out just right {she and Becca refuse to "draw" each other's name because they still want to get presents from each other and us! Shameless I tell ya! LOL!}. I think in this picture she was sad that she hadn't gotten enough presents.

13) She eats, breaths, and sleeps Dr. Pepper, which she has been quoted as saying is "the only good thing I have going in my life." She would give up the following things in exchange for Dr. Pepper: legos, water, food, air, ninja turtles, and men {okay, maybe not men but definitely the rest of those useless things}.

14) She is one of the sweetest, most caring people I know.{and also has a pretty bangin' bod!}

15) She and her BFF, Seth, were serious filmmakers while in their youths. They took their Disney music videos VERY seriously, at least until the age of ... 16!!!

16) She is picky when it comes to men! She always complains that she doesn't have a boyfriend and I say, "Look around! Everyone else with a significant other has already lowered their standards! What are you waiting for? Chad Michael Murray?" {Or are you of the James Lafferty sort? I can never remember. And hey! Are you proud of me for googling OTH to find out their names? Oh the things I do for you!}

17) She's not afraid to look hot and let people know how she feels about herself. She was studying the following picture shortly after it was developed, finally turned to Sharon and said, "Man, I look HOT!"

18) She is a die hard Cubs fan and gave Henry his first pieces of Cubs paraphernalia.
19) She is the most coordinated, die-hard "tuber-ist" I have ever met. She only complained for like nine months when Scott drove the snowmobile maybe a little too fast and she went whipping off the tube and sort of broke her collar bone or something super minor like that.

20) She is definitely one of my best friends!

21) And last but not least, I think she has proven herself through trials of the refiner's fire this past year -- trials more difficult than I have ever experienced. Somehow, she is coming through it and has become a stronger person, even though she may feel differently about the "stronger" part. She teaches me every day with her humor, her absolute passion and loyalty for friends and family, her love for life, and most of all, her belief in something greater than this life.

Happy Birthday Kate!
We Love You!

I Bet My 5th Anniversary Was Crazier Than Yours

Last weekend was our 5th anniversary. I like to think the climbing and hippie gods smiled down on Scott because he could NOT have had a better 5th anniversary celebration even if he had planned it from day one.

One of Scott's best friends from high school, Jason (aka "Bones") and his girlfriend Sarra threw together their wedding in the last few weeks. They're both biologists and headed to Panama for two years to do field research so in order to get the deal done while still in the country, they decided there was no better place than the City of Rocks in Idaho, a mecca for rock climbers around the world. So their wedding date (May 17th) was also our five year anniversary. And the best part was ... they asked Scott to perform the ceremony, which meant he had to become an ordained minister. Awesome. I was just thinking we were missing one of those in our family. This 5th anniversary story just keeps getting better and better (as far as Scott is concerned anyway).

Knowing we had a weekend of climbing and partying (ours being the Mountain Dew/Diet Coke partying sort) with the hippies ahead of us, we opted to leave the kiddies at home with friends (THANK YOU GUYS!).

Friday, climbing in The City. It had been quite a few years for this old gal. I sort of freaked out on the rock ... don't tell anybody. In my defense, the route was pretty freakin' exposed and the mother in me just took hold of my thought process. While on the rock I kept thinking, "Why does Scott's mom let him do this? This is DANGEROUS!"


The City

Action shot of Scott . DON'T WORRY! I didn't just walk away from my belaying duties. He's RAPPELLING down from the chains, therefore my skills were no longer needed. (I'll have you know, I'm one of the best belayers around! I protect you like nobody's business while positioning myself in such a way as to soak up as many harmful UV rays possible. It's a win/win.)
Jason, the groom, morning of the wedding. I think he should fire his pillow as his hairdresser.

Best buds. Awww... (is it appropriate for the Reverend to be more dressed up than the groom?)
The bride, Sarra, making a beautiful entrance. She is such a smiley person -- I love her!

Tau, keeping the riffraff away from the ceremony site. He's such a thoughtful dog.

So Scott, one of the newest reverends with the Universal Life Church, performed a beautiful ceremony. He was funny and even the tiniest bit emotional. He and Jason have been friends since Scott was about 16 and Jason and Sarra are such COOL, GENUINE people that I think Scott felt honored to be performing their wedding ceremony.

Here's the ultra-casual, but beautiful ceremony location (you can see Tau down on the right side -- it was a little bit wacky that there were dogs practically running through the bride and grooms' legs but Jason and Sarra were all for peoples' dogs being there as they own two canine creatures).

You may kiss the bride!
30 seconds later ... (hey Scott, how's the view?)

A few more seconds later ... can you say "PASSION"?!?! I don't know about you all but our "kiss the bride" kiss was DEFINITELY NOT like this!
The happy -passionate- couple
Although it wasn't MY first choice in how to spend my 5th anniversary, we love these two and are so happy to share our anniversary with them that it was all worth it!
Happy Five Years of Bliss, Babe! May the next five be filled with just as much fun and laughter! Love you!

Scott -- Definition: A Fun Dad

I'm struggling with blogging, can you tell? Oh, who cares if my posts aren't funny and end up really lame, right? At least I'm here.

So last weekend I had a little scrapbook "getaway" with a few girlfriends. Actually, we didn't really get away that far. We were supposed to go to Scott's family's cabin near Ashton, ID but due to complications, we ended up staying home but scrapping Friday night and all day Saturday at Traci's husband's dentist office (thanks again Jaeson for having us -- I had a hard time keeping those tiny pesky eyelets under control so if you find any stray ones on the floor, send 'em my way!).

So, Scott faced with a Saturday alone with the kids, did what I would for sure do -- headed to Yellowstone Park (the joke there is that is NOT what I would do, far from it; not that I'm anti-Yellowstone, I LOVE Yellowstone, but driving around all day with two wiggly kids is not really my favorite activity). But guess what? They loved it!

The highlight of the day? They watched a grizzly bear from less than 100 yds. away for about an hour! Scott said the kiddies were fascinated! Henry wanted to be up close and personal with the bear so his binoculars were a necessity. Ruby kept growling at the bear. (She's so cute these days, I can't even take it!)

The spring is our favorite time to visit Yellowstone because all the animals are so active, trying to replenish their depleted reserves from the winter (which was especially harsh this year).


The animals, however, don't look their best in the spring. The bison always look so mangy. But the baby bison are SO cute, we're willing to put up with a little mangy-ness.

If you look closely, you can see that baby's face. Awww!

Speaking of mangy ... someone get this fella a new hairdresser!



Here are the kiddies checking something out ... (sorry, I'm not such a great tour guide. I don't have the specifics.).

A few weeks ago on our way home from Utah, we passed a pair of bison cows and their new calves near West Yellowstone. One mother still had the afterbirth hanging out, which was pretty gross, but still, very cool to see such a new little wobbly baby.
We are so lucky to live so close to Yellowstone -- it's definitely one of our favorite places to visit!

Here Today ...

... Gone Tomorrow.

Okay, not really, but after just getting back from a week long trip, we'll be gone again the next two weekends. I think we travel too much.

Here's where we were...


Okay, not really Paris, but at the Paris hotel in the fabulous, sinful city of Las Vegas! Scott was presenting at a conference for the American Planning Association so we decided to tag along. My brother, Spencer, and his family live there so while Scott did his work thing (and climbed with some friends who were in town), we hung out with Heather and Ava.

Although she's a year younger than Henry, Ava is one of Henry's favorite cousins. Those two are the craziest peas in a pod you'll ever see. They never fought and kept each other amused for three days -- it was glorious. Here they are bonding at the park.


Seriously, these two were inseparable. It was so cute!
All they did was run around screaming after each other. I'm sure the other pool guests loved our being there. We're such respectful pool mates.
Here they are swimming under the Eiffel Tower ... how romantic ... even for cousins.

Looks like fun, right? I should clarify that fun was definitely NOT had by all on this trip. Here's what Ruby was doing during Henry and Ava's shenanigans ... Sick as a dog. Of course.

The weather was so great while we were there. It felt so strange to wear t-shirts and flippies and STILL feel warm.

You know you're from Montana when visiting a warm climate (i.e. Las Vegas) and you say to your 3 1/2 year old, "It's hot out here. We need to get you into some shorts." Without missing a beat, he replies, "What are shorts?!?"

Can you tell which kid in the next picture doesn't get out in the sun much? Hmmm ... that's a tough one ....
Ruby felt well enough to be involved in this one classic cousin bonding activity, although it didn't last long -- she screamed to get out after less than five minutes and immediately fell asleep.
Every night I planned to go out and get pictures of the kids on the strip, especially in front of the Bellagio water show. As sick kids and long days predict, we were absolutely exhausted every night. Good thing we had a view of the Bellagio from our hotel room because this is as close as we were gonna get. Henry didn't care. He stood at the window transfixed just barely hearing the music but enjoying it all the same.
Here's Spencer trying to tame Ava's 'do. That girl seriously has the craziest hairdo known to toddler-dom.
Here's Henry checking out the outcome. I wonder if that's what Spencer was going for.
Thanks for letting us come stay at your house Ava! We already miss you AND your crazy hairdo!

Happy Birthday Dear Scotty!!!!

Woo hoo! I'm not the only 30 year-old in the house anymore! Welcome to the 30s Babe! Come on in! The water's fine!

Here he is, my one and only...
He doesn't get his voice heard a lot on this blog. I think there are two reasons for this: #1-I'm a yakker and #2-He's not as interested as I am in hearing my own voice (wait, what? what am I talking about?!?!)

So, how fitting is it that my little tree hugger's birthday just COINCIDENTALLY COINCIDES with Earth Day? Happy Earth Day y'all! (Before I forget, Scott doesn't want any presents. He requests that any present money be sent to the greenest conservation organization of your choice. Or, just go out and hug a tree.)

So here's my tribute to the guy many of you might not know very well...

He was the cutest little tyke on the planet (until our kids came along)...

He loves his family...

(I think I mostly love the mustache in that picture. Grow it back Hal!)

He and his brother, Cody, are the two cutest little pals! As the picture so aptly demonstrates, they are total opposites. One of my favorite stories of Scott's childhood is when Cody was learning to talk, no one could understand him (and from what I understand, this went on for QUITE some time). So Scott did the only thing a big brother could do, he acted as Cody's interpreter.

So, I haven't really done the research to back this next statement up but I'm about 98.7% positive that it's true -- it is HARD to find a 30 year-old man who loves his grandparents as much as Scott loves his. Scott calls his Grandma Mary and Grandpa Hal regularly just to check in and make sure they're doing okay.

He loves his sisters...
When I got to know Scott's family, it was clear that Scott had such a loving relationship with his sisters. Seriously, I melt when I catch those little glimpses of concern and love that he has for Becca and Kate.

He is patient! He'd have to be. Seriously, I'm not so easy to live with, folks. Shocker, right?.

Scott is passionate. He has always loved the outdoors and has a deep and profound love and respect for God's creations -- and I love that about him.

Is this not the proudest kid in the entire world?

(Scott particularly loves the desert. It's kind of an interesting little quirk about him. I would take the mountains or even the ocean anyday, but not him, he's a desert kind of guy.)
He is goofy! He makes me laugh (or at least smile when I'm grouchy) every day.

He is the best dad in the whole world. I really am convinced of it.

Scott loves to play the guitar. In fact, he gave me my first lesson our first semester at USU in 1996. Go Aggies!
Don't let his laid back nature fool you, this kid is PARTICULAR about what he will and will not wear. I've given up shopping for him ... well, almost ... my hope is still dangling like a thread that one day he'll let me dress him from head to toe ... maybe when we're 80.
Scott is very loyal. He doesn't let people in very easily but once he does he considers them friends for life and would do anything for them.

A little girl named Ruby has him oh-so-tightly wound around her little finger.

Scott is very intelligent, practical, quiet, down-to-earth, Christ-like, considerate, good at what he does, spiritual, and my personal favorite -- loving.

Happy Birthday Babe! I love you!