11.20.2007

My Baby Girl is ONE!!!


Yesterday was my sweet Ruby's birthday. She is growing up so fast -- it's incredible. I think it's no coincidence that her birthday is right before Thanksgiving because by just looking at her I am overwhelmed by how blessed my life is. She is such a happy, cuddly, funny baby that I just can't get enough of her.

I think I'm becoming a true Christensen because somehow I have contributed to the 62,000 nicknames we have for her. Some of them are cute (probably only to us) and some of them are absolutely horrible (I did not give her any of those, mind you). Here are some of the most common:

Rubydoo
Rubadoo
Ruby-dooby (Henry's personal favorite)
Rubelstiltskin
Rubels (yuck, I know)
Rubix-cube (Scott's contribution)
Rubicon
Ruby Begay (Scott's dad's contribution, a real winner)
Rubinha (pronounced Rube-een-ya, gotta love Portuguese)
Lady

Ladybug

Ruby truly is one of the greatest blessings the Lord could have given us and we feel lucky to be her parents. She is 50% of our pride and joy (I'll give you one guess who the other 50% belongs to. Here's a hint: It's not the dog.) and we love everything about her. We love you Ruby Jane!


And again, for those of you who have a little more time on your hands. Here's our tribute to little Ruby Jane:

11.18.2007

Tagged, Shmagged...

Okay, so here I am. I've been tagged.

I'm such an open book, you probably already know these things about me.

(In no particular order ... drum roll please ....)

1) I was Student Body President of Farmington Elementary School. GooooooOOOOO ROADRUNNERS! Although I can't remember much of my running platform or even my "duties," I do remember both "my" vice-president and secretary were girls. I was such a feminist. See Mom, taking us to meet Gloria Steinem did pay off. Ahhh ... the glory days.

2) I love dill pickles. Sometimes just thinking about them makes my mouth water. See, it's happening already....

3) I loved keyboarding class in 7th grade. I became quite the proficient typer. When I worked at Nu Skin, I used to type over 110 words per minute (sorry I can't beat your 115 WPMs Nikell ... show off). In fact, I became so consumed with typing that I used to (and sometimes still do) type billboards I read. It's a lot tamer now but it used to be so bad, I felt like I had OCD -- I HAD to type everything I read on billboards. It used to drive me absolutely nuts.

4) I've had three epidurals but only have two children. Hmm ... something's a little fishy with that math. Most of my family knows this but when I was 37 weeks pregnant with Henry, I had a false alarm. I went to the hospital with super uncomfortable contractions (which I later found out were just out of control Braxton-Hicks because I was dehydrated), the nurse checked me, told me I was dilated to a 6, she told me I must have a really high pain tolerance, Scott laughed a little too hard at that, we called our parents, they started driving up to Idaho Falls from Utah, I got an epidural, the night nurse came on duty, she checked me again only to find out that the first nurse had checked me wrong -- I was only dilated to a 1. So, I stayed over night, nothing happened, so they sent me home and I didn't have Henry until 2 1/2 weeks later. The best part is, they tried to make us pay the bill.

5) I used to want to be a marine biologist. Why? I loved whales. Humpback whales, to be exact. When I was about 13, I bought a "Whale Adoption Kit" from the World Wildlife Federation that included a booklet of different whales (identified by their tales, of course) from which I could choose one to "adopt." I assumed that once I picked a whale, that whale was removed from the list because he was mine. Oh the naivete. I think my whale was either named Onyx or Tika, it's hard to be sure. But he was a good whale, of that I am sure.

6) A favorite family story (one told at my expense, I might add): once my friends and I took dates up the canyon to watch a movie and I graciously offered to bring the tv (which belonged to my little brothers; it was one of those super cool VCR/tv combos). For some crazy reason, the tv kept shorting out. So, some genius figured we just needed to turn up the generator. And what do you know? The tv went up in smoke. Being the responsible 17 year-old that I was, I tried to hide it from my parents and my little brothers and get the tv fixed on my own. I thought I was being responsible. Paying for the repair and all that. But oh no, apparently I was being "sneaky" and "dishonest." I like to think of myself as a glass half-full type of person so let's focus on the positive -- I got the tv fixed AND paid for it myself.

7) In 5th grade, I was reading on a 9th grade level (Mensa-material, I know). Our class was playing some version of "Oregon Trail" (remember that old-school computer game?) where you had to answer questions to progress your team's wagon further along the trail. So when my team's turn came up, we had to choose one team member to go up and spell a word to move our wagon forward. We were debating about who should go and I remember confidently letting my team in on my secret -- I was practically the national spelling bee champ due to my heightened reading abilities. Wow. It worked. They sent me right on up. Surprise, surprise -- I spelled the word WRONG! Oh the humiliation. I thought I would never be able to look my 10 year-old classmates in the eyes again. Moral of this story: 9th graders aren't as smart as 5th graders think they are.


*I tag everyone on my "list" who has not been tagged yet.

11.14.2007

Aunt K-Did, Geetlyn, Bun-Bun, or Kate

Okay, we're finally feeling better. Sorry for leaving such a sad and pathetic picture of Ruby up for so long. I was unaware that seeing my suffering child was so hard for you to see Becca. :) I'm so sorry that this post is so long overdue. Anyhoo...on with the show!

So a few weeks ago Henry got a phone call from one of his favs, Aunt Kate. And this was my interpretation of that conversation:

Oh hey! It's my Aunt Kate. I love my Aunt Kate!



As a matter of fact, I DID just have a birthday! I'm this many.



[My mom's probably so jealous over there, watching me just take care of business on the phone. She's probably thinking I'm the smartest kid alive, workin' the deals at such a young age. She's probably already mentally filling out my application to Harvard.]



Wait. Who is this?



Man, girls sure can talk.



I wonder how long I have to wait before I can just hang up.

11.08.2007

The Pukes


Man, the pukes suck.

Ruby and Henry got awesome fevers in Hawaii and then came down with colds. To make matters even more incredibly awesome, I came down with a wicked case of the flu yesterday.

I now have much more empathy for poor little ones with fevers. The uncontrollable teeth chattering and burning sensation in my head just about did me in. Add a splash of body aches and puking and I'm a gonner.

Scott even stayed home from work today to take care of the kids. In fact, this is the first time I've left the comfort of my bed all day. I thought I should at least try and pay for the eBay auction I won a few days ago and lo and behold, there has been unauthorized activity on my account. Apparently I bid on and won a Gucci purse and a Fendi bag. Who knew I was so trendy? (And so self-indulgent?!?)

I think I'll go back to bed now.

11.06.2007

Aloha!!!

We're back! And it was quite a trip!



You forget how long/arduous these trips are when you tack on a seven hour car ride before and after the actual thing but we still managed to have a great time.

I won't go into all the gruesome details as a trip with this many people is bound to have but here are a few of the highlights (okay, and a few lowlights):
  • Playing with the kids on the beach (Henry loved the waves -- phew! That could have been a long trip otherwise.)
  • The Halloween Parade in Lahaina (We had so much fun! Our kids looked adorable in their costumes, the Air Force Band was rockin', and the people were skanky -- what more could you ask for?)
  • Blair's belated birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse (I don't know what was best about this night -- Blair and Spencer's jokes, people blatantly gawking at our table of 18 peeps, Max throwing up, or Henry pooping his pants under the table. Sigh. I'm afraid that last one is sad but true. Obviously, we have yet to totally master the pooping part of potty training.)
  • Going to bed at 8:30 p.m. and waking up at 6 a.m. (Gotta love the time change)
  • Eating, eating, and more eating (I figure I almost gained the whopping five pounds I lost for this trip. Don't knock it -- that was a hard five pounds!)
  • 5 of the 8 kids coming down with wicked fevers two days before coming home (It started with Kate, then Ava, then Ezra, then Henry, and then wee Ruby bit the dust. Flying the red-eye home -- on a PACKED flight -- with a delirious Henry and a lethargic Ruby was awesome!)
  • Laying in bed texting Blair at 6 a.m. (It was our first morning there and I woke up before my kids so I started texting Blair, who is the earliest bird I know, who was staying at another hotel that first night. The higlight was one of his texts, he said: Kim's not quite awake yet. I want to go down for a long walk on the beach. I love those. That's why I'm such a great catch. Oh Blair, maybe we ought to talk to Kim and find out how great of catch you really are. I think most women like long walks on the beach at sunset, not sunrise.
And just a few video highlights for those of you out there with almost as much time on your hands as me (p.s. my video quality is not great and uploading it made it even worse but heck, it'll have to do):


Ruby Hanging Out on Kaanapali Beach





Bathtub Nose Pickin'
(Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone when an 11 month old is picking your nose? Well, Henry has. And boy it doesn't look easy!)




Halloween Henry and Ava Gettin Their Grooves On