I'm Becoming ... Her

Here I am,
just minding my own, and suddenly I
notice that I am not quite who I thought
I was. Or maybe, who I wanted to be.

After our walk to pick up the mail the other day, we stopped by the swings for a little mother-children quality time. I gave Ruby a tiny push in her tiny swing and gave Henry a few "underdog" pushes to keep him going for a few minutes and I jumped on my own swing. Suddenly, it happened. Could it be...........?

I got motion sickness!!!

What in the?!?

I was supposed to be the cool mom who goes on roller coasters with her kids, not the dorky one who stands off to the side holding everybody's Skeeball loot. In fact, I'd probably bench one of my own kids from riding The Colossus at Lagoon if it meant I could go partake of the loopdey-loop fun.

But whoa Nelly! Motion Sickness? On swings?

Seriously, I had to keep my eyes focused on something straight ahead to keep from getting dizzy. I got off the swing just to stop myself from embarrassing myself. Ridiculous.

I've Been Tagged

4 Jobs I've Had: (I can only name 4? I've had about 25.)
-Nu Skin (receptionist, order processor, PR intern -- thanks for all the good times Nu Skin!)
-Checker at a Grocery Store (freshman year at USU- Scott was a bagger at the same store but love was definitely NOT in the air)
-Baker at Einstein's Bagels (junior year in college - probably one of my all-time favs)
-Idaho Mountain Trading (bike/ski shop in Idaho Falls before Henry was born)

4 Movies I could watch over and over:
-Napoleon Dynamite
-School of Rock
-Bend It Like Beckham (I played soccer in high school, I love the British accent, David Beckham is pretty hot, the main guy in the show is pretty hot, I like the Indian girl who plays "Neela" on ER so this is pretty much a no-brainer)
-I'm a little hesitant to admit this but Scott got me into the Lord of the Rings movies. I've seen all of them numerous times. So probably those and any of the original Star Wars movies. But I draw the Sci-Fi line after these, I swear.

Places I Have Lived:
-Frankfurt, Germany (when I was a baby but I'm claiming it!)
-All over northern Utah
-Allentown, PA
-Sao Paulo, Brazil and Curitiba, Brazil
-Idaho Falls
-Bozeman, Montana

My Fav Foods:
-Pizza (I know, me and every other 3rd grader)
-Lately, Ice Cream
-Chocolate
-White Cake with Raspberry Filling

Favorite TV Shows:
-Grey's Anatomy
-The Office (Who doesn't love The Office? I defy you to find one semi-humorous individual who doesn't L-O-V-E it.)
-American Idol
-So You Think You Can Dance (so sad it's over)
-Top Chef (Thanks Adrienne! As if I needed any more "programs" to record.)
-ER (Does anyone still watch this show besides me, Adrienne, and my mother-in-law?)

Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
-On a tropical vacation with Scott and the kids and a few nannies
-In Utah with all of our family (we had so much fun there this summer!)
-Asleep (it is 11:15 p.m. afterall and I am no night owl)
-Just sitting around talking and laughing with my family or Scott's (or both! they are all so hilarious!)

People I Have Tagged:
-Let's see, I don't have any other friends who blog so I guess I have no one to tag. Adrienne, did you ever do this "tagging" thing when you were tagged? What about Melissa? I think you read my blog occassionally, maybe you should be tagged.

Is there anyone even out there?

Thank You. I'm Here All Week and Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress!

I don't know what's gotten into Henry lately but he has become quite the comedian. Of course most of the time he doesn't know he's being funny but the effect is the same.

Here is just a short list of his latest one-liners:

• When Ruby has a toy and Henry wants it I usually say something along the lines of, "No, she needs it. She's really sad," or "She's freaking out." So yesterday Ruby had a toy he wanted and I said, "No Henry, she needs it." After a few seconds pause he bursts out, "No! I'm fee-kin out!" [fee-kin, freakin, same diff]
  
• Me: Henry, what letter does your name start with? Henry: Um....Saturday.
• Last weekend in Utah he declared to me one morning, "Mama! There's a ficket in the duh-waaahhge!" [Translation: There's a cricket in the garage.]
• Last night we were at a work picnic for Scott when the weather started to get a little feisty on us. Upon seeing the flashing bolts of lightning behind us, Henry screamed, "I see Lightning Muh-feen!" [As in Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars]

Case in Point, he walked around half the day yesterday with this hilarious Crystal Light mustache asking for more juice. I just couldn't bring myself to wipe his face off -- he looked too awesome. What would life be like if we were all as self-assured as children? Awesome. That's what it would be. Just awesome.

Another Trip to the Beehive State

I guess it's about time I update our little bloggety blog. We just got back from Utah after attending Seth Fraughton's funeral (see last post). Although it was one of the saddest things I've ever experienced, we were able to experience some really neat things with his family. After getting special permission from the First Presidency (of the church, of course), we were able to go to the Bountiful temple with Scott's parents, the Fraughtons, and quite a few other family members and friends to take Seth's endowments out. It was one of the most spiritual temple sessions I've ever been to. It was awesome. The viewing and funeral were also pretty incredible. At the funeral, the entire chapel, overflow, cultural hall, AND stage were packed with people. I also heard that there were people in overflow rooms just listening to the audio of the funeral. Had I died at 17, I'm positive I would not have even filled the chapel, let alone the entire stake center! Anyway, Scott's sister, Kate, spoke about what a great friend Seth was and she did such a great job -- we were so proud of her! Although the meeting was sad, from his entire family speaking to hearing the football team sing, there was such a feeling of peace and celebration knowing he lived his life well and was such an incredible kid.

While we were in Utah, we were able to spend a lot of time with Scott's family which was a lot of fun. Scott's brother and his wife (Cody and Nikell) came in from Kansas City (where's he's going to medical school) so Henry especially loved playing with their little boy, Noah. It's so fun to watch them slowly start engaging one another. Even though Noah is over a year younger than him, Henry just followed Noah around and shadow-played right behind him. He is truly such a follower!

We tried to get a cute picture of the four Christensen cousins and it was nearly impossible, as you can tell. You can barely see Baby Crew, Noah looks overjoyed with the whole process, Henry's stuffing his face with Oreos, and Ruby sort of has that "deer in the headlights" look. Oh well, we tried.
One of the highlights of the trip was Ruby learning how to crawl! She's been rocking on her hands and knees for a few weeks now but on Friday she really took the plunge and rocked forward and kept on going. Henry didn't crawl until 10 months so I didn't think she'd crawl before 9 months. The best thing about this picture is the look of concentration on Henry's face; he's almost willing her to keep moving (either that or he's eyeing the toy she's going for). I love it.


And the other highlight of this trip was a new food discovery for Ruby...

She does NOT like watermelon.

Remembering Seth Fraughton

Yesterday, Scott's little sister's best friend drowned in Bear Lake. It seems like when these types of tragedies occur, the same phrases inevitably are said about the victims, "outstanding student," "star athlete," "friend to everyone," etc. I feel like in this case, however, these phrases come nowhere near describing Seth nor do they do him justice. He was much more than all of those things. He was one of those kids that you just couldn't help but love.

Seth has been Kate's best friend for years and I feel so lucky to have gotten to know him in the past five years I've been a member of the Christensen family. Although he was 12 years my junior, I loved hanging out with Seth. His enthusiasm for life and addicting sense of humor drew me, and others, to him. From snow-tubing behind the snowmobile to swimming in Sun Valley, I feel blessed to have been able to spend time with one of God's truly chosen sons.

Even though I did not know him well, my heart aches just thinking of his adorable dimples, the way he made me laugh, and the incredible example he was to me. My heart goes out to Scott's family, especially Kate, and to the Fraughton family. I know his parents have true testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ which will comfort them through this challenging time. Seth will truly be missed.