What the?

I don't know why, but posting the videos below has cut off my title picture,or whatever you call it. Hopefully this will go away.

Concert videos

I love this song because I LOVE to sing and I always imagined he wrote this for me. Good thing I have a good imagination.

Concert Video

This is a song he wrote when he found out he was going to be a father. He called it My Eyes because he thought it was a nice name and his son did end up having his eyes. I could only tape a little of this song because I actually started to cry. Maybe it's because I have a precious little girl who had my eyes and a strappign young boy who has Russ' eyes. I love this song.

Take me to the Show

Warning:This could possibly be the longest post ever.

So Wednesday we (Connie, Alexis, Russ, and I) got up bright and early to drive to LA to see our favorite band, Travis in concert. Yes, this was the day before Thanksgiving and yes, the first time I have left my kids overnight (with the exception of leaving William while I was having Gracie) and yes, I did cry (but only a little). We drove all day and it was nice to be able to just sit and talk, and talk, and talk. I have been to see all my favorite band in concert, most of them more than once, but never Travis. So this was very exciting.


We got there in time to enjoy some Rosco's Chicken and Waffles.


Poor Connie, they brought us all our food except for her, she had to wait. Then Russ and I were able to meet up with this little cutie and she showed us her stompin' ground. Russ' brother and sister in law reside in LA so we got to meet up with them and talk for awhile. It was fun, but somehow only Harper made it onto my camera. She is just too cute, Brett and Natasha - you guys are cute too!





















While we were doing that Connie and Alexis ran into these guys
In fact, they met the whole band. Connie called me all flustered and soooo excited to tell me all about it and I told her to take her picture to a 1 hour photo so she could get it signed after the show. They both did this and after the show both Fran and Dougie said, "I am wearing the exact same thing" when they saw the picture. But you have to imagine them saying it with adorable scotish accents. Now for the slide show of the show, I put a lot of pictures in there and for those who don't care so much, they will most likely all look the same.

I will be posting a few video clips soon.

After the show we waited FOREVER outside and it got pretty cold.


Finally they came out and it was great to meet them. They are just about the nicest guys. I think that Dougie may have been a little tipsy. We got to thank them for their music and performance and chat with Fran about my kids and his boy. I told him that Williams favorite songs are Closer and My Eyes.

I know this is quite possibly the worst picture of both Russ and I, but I don't really care because I was and am so happy just to see them.


Russ had Fran sign his arms like he did with Ben Folds.


After that we got in the car and started to drive home. I was asleep in the back and Russ was driving. After a few hours he got tired and pulle dover and we all slept in the car until I woke up and my nose was cold so I told them we either needed to drive or get a hotel. So we drove the rest of the way. This is Russ "watching" Gracie after we got home.
My kids didn't hate me when I got home and seemed to do fine without me. All in all it was an AWESOME trip and I can't wait to go again.

Closer, Closer

I am a lot Closer to going to see these guys, and I can't wait. I can't believe that it is tomorrow. This is going to be soooo sweeeeeet!!!!! Can you tell I am excited.


I love this video! By the end I always have this stupid grin on my face that I just can not get rid of. How come none of my grocery store experiences are like that? Oh yeah, I go with two kids and Fran isn't there.

Update

Gracie can kind of sit up in a saucer...

Drool like some sort of animal that drools...

and hold toys and put them in her mouth.

Yeah!

The Move

So now I will explain the sudden move that just occurred. What am I talking about, it is still occurring. I hope that I can get through this because all that I am about to write about has really stressed me out. It all started on October the 18th When we went to a section 8 meeting and found out that we would have to move into a 2 bedroom rather than the three bedroom we were in. This was depressing because not only did we love the place we were in, but we love our ward. The next day we went down to the valley to spend with Russ parents. When we got home I spent that week searching for a place to live that fit all the criteria. This was unbelievably difficult to do and the last place we looked was out last hope because nothing else was going to work. Once we knew where we were going to live I spent the next week going through everything in our house to get rid of anything that we did not really need to keep since we were going from 1600 square feet to 919. Aarrrghhh!!! This also happened to be the week that I had Williams preschool at our house, our Halloween FHE party, Halloween, Williams birthday, William birthday party, and the yard sale on the same day. The yard sale went well and we got rid of almost everything. Unfortunately, because of the week I had I was not able to go through everything which resulted in a trip to dump a lot of stuff at Savers. The week that followed was the week to pack since we would start moving that Friday. We got as much packing done as we could then on Friday a bunch of Russ' buddies from school came to help us move. Russ mom and dad and brother also came with his 2 girls. With all the help we were able to get a lot done that day. The guys moved all the big items and boxes that we had packed with in a few hours. I can not say how much I appreciated the help. If any of you are reading this, THANK YOU! And thank you to the wives for sparing your husbands for a few hours.
So we spent the whole weekend unpacking and getting settled and then going to the old place, getting more of our junk that we didn't pack and bringing it back, unpacking it and getting settled. And this just ended today. I am in the valley, but Russ just got everything out of the old apartment and into the new and he is on his way down here so we can go to a concert, but that is for another post, a happy post. Everything is in the new apartment, but there is stuff everywhere and it is far from finished. Part of me wants to go home and get it done, but a lot of me just wants to stay here and relax. This is where we ate dinner for the first week in the apartment, and probably where we will eat when we get back.


The first day of the move Williams grandparents gave him some gifts and you can tell he was having fun that day by how dirty his face is.

Russ was getting ready to move this and found someone in it. I love the way his mind works.

My Scooter

I know that you are thinking this blog is about the new vespa I purchased, but there is no such thing. My scooter is my Gracie. On Thursday night I attended my book club. Which was, as always, delightful. I enjoyed good company, good conversation (cause it was a good book), and great dessert (creme brulee). When I returned home rather late my whole household was asleep and I found Gracie like this...

...sleeping with he adorable little rump in the air. Now what I want you to notice is that when she was put to bed her head was were her knees now are. Yes she sleeps on my floor, it is the easiet thing right now. She has a crib and I'm not making any promises, but she will probably be sleeping there in the near future. Anyway, isn't she so cute? She scoots really far sometimes.

This is the next morning, all of us snuggling in bed (my favorite part of the day). William was being so sweet he was holding her hand and kissing it and Gracie is always soooo happy in the morning. So, even though sometimes I feel like two kids is way too much for me to handle, I love my kids!

My little scooter

Thursday night I came home from Book Club. Another highly enjoyable evening with good friends, good conversation (because it was a good book), and great dessert (creme brulae)

Birthday Party

So before the beginning of October I was planning Williams birthday party. Then I found out we had to move and with the stress of all that party plans quickly left my mind. Luckily I had decided to throw a joint party with his best buddy Trenton. His birthday is the 2nd, but he turned 4. So his mom, Brittany, put on a wonderful birthday for them and the kids had a lot of fun. William was determined to have a Marlin Party and Trenton wanted a Transformers party. It all worked out well. Here they are hitting the Pinate, Trenton broke it. What strong young man.






Cake!!!They blew out the candles together. It was so cute.

Opening presents - he got some awesome presents! Thanks everyone!



It turned out very fun. Thanks all for coming and thank you Brittany for doing it all. You saved my life, or at least Williams birthday!









Okay, I also had to post this adorable picture if William preschool lesson that he brought home a couple of weeks ago. Don't they look so cute!

Birthday Boy

Well I can't believe it, but my baby is three! I am at my moms right now. I will be here this whole week, and that should give me some time to catch up. Now if only I can remember it all. Let's see...it all started early in the morning on the first. Russ and I woke William up by dancing to Celebration by Kool and the Gang (he was too tiered to appreciate it).We took him to the kitchen were a present was waiting for him. This present, by the way, was a toy that he fell in love with at a friends house. I saw how well he played with it and thought that I should get it for him. Would you believe it was in the Walmart add that week! So the vtech laptop computer is what he got and loved! He played with it all day. He says he is doing his "homework", and he takes it very seriously.



William waited patiently all day for Daddy to come home so he could have cake and open his presents that arrived in the mail from his Grandma and Grandpa Christensen and his cousins Grayson and Hal. I made his cake while he was sleeping so it would be a surprise. We had his favortie dinner, pesto ravioli. I say it is his favorite because it is the only dinner we don't have to prompt him to finish. Then we brought out the cake.

He is a pretty happy boy.
Then we opened his presents.
His cousins sent him a box of Bob the Builder EVERYTHING and he loved it!
His Grandma and Grandpa gave him a puppy puppet that sings different songs, it is pretty cute. All in all is was a great day.

Out of Service

We had to move suddenly and I have not been able to post, this only bothers me because I have not posted about William's birthday (the 1st) and it is the the 15th!!! I will be updating soon.
I would also like to apologize for the song in the slide show below. I like the song, but did not realize the video would play and it is just distracting. I am supposed to be able to edit my slide show and take it off, but for some reason this does not work. So, sorry.

Halloween Night

For Halloween dinner I made these mashed potato ghosts and carrot leaves. William thought that they were pretty special and ate every single one! Russ said it was the best Halloween dinner he every had. Watch out for next year, it will be complete with headstone shaped meat, broccoli shrubs, and sweet potato pumpkins. (I get all my ideas from Martha Stewart's website. Well, not all, but most)


I made the ghosts using a zip lock bag with a hole in it. When Russ wanted seconds he went to try and do it and squeezed too hard or something because it came out every which way. I thought that instead of just scooping out more potatoes with a spoon he wanted more ghosts. I seriously married a boy in a mans body.





















After dinner we headed out to our ward Trunk-Or-Treat. William got pretty good at saying Trick-or-treat and definitely enjoyed getting the candy.

Gracie and I went as little pink bunnies. Well, Gracie was a little pink bunny, I was a big one. Thanks Aunt Kirsten for the costume! It was so soft a snugly warm. By the way, she did NOT like us drawing on her nose and face.

Russ and William were, as stated before, Nemo and Marlin. William loved his costume, but for some reason whenever he would put it on he would say, "I don't want to show you." We would tell him he didn't have to show anyone and he would be fine.
I was talking to Tia and turned around to find Marlin and Little Orphan Annie sitting on a rock together talking about how he couldn't find his son and she couldn't find her parents. Actually I think they were showing each other their candy, but whatever.

Gracie was so cute, she never made a noise just hung over my arm like this staring at the ground the whole time. I thought she must have been asleep, but she wasn't.

When we got home our good ole' neigh boor Ricky brought over some Halloween cup cakes and William could not have been more excited.
But, unfortunately while eating this cup cake he bit his finger, I guess it was too good to concentrate on where his finger was. Isn't that such a sad face?





After that William and Russ took off with Chris and Trenton to their class Halloween party. They had fun and got to ride in a Limo. That was pretty exciting. Not so exciting was the "legitimately scary" zombies that came to the party. Apparently William thought they were going to eat him and neither he nor Trenton would let their Dad's put them down the rest of the night. Isn't that sad?