Busy December

I have been feeling crazy since December started!

 First I was asked to be in charge of our Ward Christmas party and that has been on my mind for a long time!
Then we finished up C-man's first, and great basketball season
We tried to cram some family pictures in before the weather got too cold...although it was 55 today.
Get neighbor gifts ready, it is a little weird living in a new place and not knowing how people handle holidays??
Christmas shopping, haul 2-3 kids around shopping or Amazon!  Lets say a large portion of our gifts were purchased from the comfort of my bedroom!
Got new tires to prepare for the "big drive" home!
Preparing toys and surprises to entertain kiddos during the drive
Preparing Christmas to make the long trek

But we have also found lots of time to read Christmas stories, make silly gingerbread houses, listen to C-man in the Stake Christmas Cantata, watch #2 in his super cute preschool Christmas program, and remember the real reason we love Christmas so much!

 Can't wait to for our Christmas vacation home to Utah!

One of our family picture attempts..FAIL!

Making plans for the gingerbread house

The finished product, including a reindeer pen out back with gumdrop reindeer!

#2 and his best friend after the preschool program.  His bestie is moving to Utah this month!   Boo-hoo!

What we miss

We went to the zoo on a great afternoon today!  **Picture has nothing to do with the post!**


We have been here a few months now and have started to notice that we miss some things.
1.  The yummy tortillas that you cook yourself.
2.  Mandarin Garden tiny spicy chicken
3.  Mountains
4. Lee's grocery store, and case lot sales!
5. Good "grocery store" white bread.  (No Grandma Sycamores, or Farm bread types, only Wonder bread..Yuck)
6.  Free Fostys with kids meals at Wendys!  Come on!
7.  I won't mention FAMILY and FRIENDS; too obvious!

We didn't realize we would even miss most of these things, funny list, huh?

Summer Surprise!

We had some big surprises and changes this summer...like moving to Kansas!  It wasn't something we planned on at all but it happened and we felt good about it.  Now that we have been here for about a month we are happy to be situated instead of bouncing around like we did the rest of the summer. 

 This is a random rest stop on the drive from Utah to Kansas.  We managed to make the drive several times over the summer!

 This guy could probably eat a whole watermelon if someone let him

This is called Keeper of the Plains and it is a big statue/monument by the river in downtown Wichita.  They light it up every night.  Anyone who wants to come see me can go to this!

Some of the things we are liking about Kansas so far:
1.  Most houses have these great big, open basements that are great for kids to play in.
2.  It is a pretty family oriented state.  There are just as many mini-vans and suburbans as I see in Utah. 
3.  It is fun to be close to all of the big city stuff, like the zoo, museums, great stores, etc.
4.  The QT gas stations!  They are huge and clean and have everything, plus they are everywhere!
5.  New wildlife adventures.  We have caught 3 frogs, a turtle, snakes, and all kinds of weird and huge bugs that we had never seen before. (Ok the bugs are a little gross and probably not on the LIKES list)
6. All libraries everywhere are free for everyone.  You don't have to live in a certain town to go to the library!
7.  Our new ward has a lot of fun families.

More later!

We're Still Alive!

We did manage to have some fun ice-skating!

We are still alive and kicking!
After a crazy December (full of regular Christmas stuff, Disneyland trip, multiple ear infections and some other stuff) I was feeling so motivated to start this year off all positive and put the last year behind us. Go figure that January started off with a bang.

In a nutshell;

1. Kidlet #1 got strep throat and started antibiotic #1
2. Kidlet #1 has an allergic reaction to antibiotic #1 and I get antibiotic #2
3. I think Kidlet #3 has an ear infection or strep and take him to the Doctor that is working the Sunday shift. (Said Doctor is a little ((a lot)) weird and has weird conversation skills and I leave feeling totally weirded out!....the ears have "fluid" but aren't infected, and no strep. Good-bye $85!
4. Kidlet #2 has a strange rash that I find out is strep! Start Kidlet #2 on antibiotic #1.
5. Kidlet #2 is very "strong-willed" and doesn't want to take the medicine. Told Bruce I could get #2 to take the medicine and kidlet #2 vomits all over himself and me!
6. Get Kidlet #2 antibiotic #2 (a chew-able) after a few more tries/fails with the liquid.
7. Kidlet #3 is getting worse, take him to see his aunt (a Nurse Practitioner) and find that his ear is now infected!
8. Get Kidlet #3 some medicine!
9. During all of the above there are a lot of extra days off, and extra half-days of school! Aaahhh!
10. Finally a happy ending, everyone has finished all of the above medicines and we are hoping we can stay healthy for month or two; and that school can stay in session!

What just happened?

Somehow I have un-invited myself (or something) to all of the private blogs that I like to catch up on! If you are one of those people, could you re-invite me puh-leze!
(This includes you Melissa M.!)

Thanks!
valerie(dot)christensen(at)gmail(dot)com

A little catch up

I have been a lazy blogger this summer, and now summer is almost over! Wow!

We had some fun at the fair,

Did a little swimming,


Had a few campfires,

And #3 did lots of this!

Our Summer Project

We had surprise visitors up in our porch this spring. The first day we saw the birds building a nest we actually tried to knock the meager pile of sticks down several times and within an hour or so it was all built back up; so we finally had a heart and left the nest alone.

My computer-savy husband put a webcam up for the kids to watch the birds live, and then he figured out how to stream it to the internet and update the picture online every few seconds. (He has a little extra time on his hands; being home from work after having back surgery...that is another story for later!) To watch the live shots go here http://www.bcinvent.com:81/
(The picture will change every 10 seconds. Right now there are 3 eggs and 1 baby. You can also see the father bringing worms back occasionally.)

Just a few minutes ago we noticed that the first baby has hatched! Maybe it is an indication of warmer weather?

Happy Spring!