Missing Child

Talan loves to sleep in our bed. He used to come in and wake us up and ask if he could sleep with us and we would say no and put him back in bed. Well as he has gotten older he has learned not to wake us up but just crawl up the middle of the bed while we are sleeping. Most of the time we don't realize that he has climbed in bed until we wake up in the morning. However tonight he decided to ask if he could sleep with us. We said no and that he needed to go back and get in his bed. So a few minutes later I went in to check on him and found an empty bed. I got nervous. Jason and I started looking all over the house for him.

Lucky for us Jason noticed this small foot sticking out from under the bed.

I guess since we told him he couldn't sleep in our bed he decided to sleep under our bed.

Good Night Talan.

Girls Night Out

What to do while the husbands are in Wendover for a bachelor party or flying somewhere over Canada? Go to the local dollar store and come up with some project. Look at our basket of goodies.

After rummaging through the dollar store and hitting every crafting store in the area it was time for some Terra Mia. They have the best Pesto Pizza and Cesar Salad.

It was so nice to eat with out someone pulling on your arm and asking when are we going. I think I actually got to taste the pizza.

After about an hour of gossiping we decided it was time to get started on our projects.

On our way home we ran in to a celebrity. Tow-Mater!!! We had to stop and have our picture taken with this famous star.

I think Mater's owner would love to leave the parking lot if all the people surrounding his truck would move.

The boys were so excited to see the photos of Mater on my camera.

Next stop was Ashley's house to work on our glitter pumpkins. Even Talan was able to do this project.

The pumpkins turned out so cute. Our house is going to be so decked out for Halloween this year.

Who knew you could turn ugly dollar store pumpkins into something so cute.

It was so fun to have a Girls Night Out. It is nice to have sometime as a friend not a mother for a few minutes. We had a great time shopping and eating dinner it was a fun girls night out.

Remodel

On Friday my washer started to make a funny sound. I called Jason at work and told him that I think I know what we should spend our tax return on. Just what I was hoping to spend it on, a new washer. Sure enough when he got home he pulled it out and there was oil on the floor. We googled to see if it were repairable. It said there is nothing you can do but buy a new one. So we decided that while we have it out we would repaint the wall since I hate the color. Replace a few tiles the have cracked, take out the water guard etc.. Just what I wanted to do this weekend. So we headed off to Lowe's to gather our supplies.

Our laundry room also services as our mud room. I hate how we hang our coats now. The rack is to small and can no longer fit every ones coat. Since we are remodeling we decided to try and make a nice new place to hang our coats. I hope our idea will work and give us more room.

After a couple of hours trying to pick paint colors and gather supplies we finally headed for home around nine. The kids were tired and fell asleep in the car. So we decided to start painting and tiling. After along night we finish the first coat of paint and got the tiles replaced. We finally went to bed around 3:30am. I sure hope that this turns out how I have envisioned it. I have always thought that a laundry room should be blue. I hope I don't regret my decision once I have it all painted.

Well it has taken us awhile to finish things up but overall I like the finish product. It seems so cheery and not dull like before.

The new and improved coat racks. We did a lower set for the boys and a higher one for Jason and I. I love it, it gives us so much more room for coats and bags.

I like having the bags and coats in one area, it makes it so much easier to get out of the door in the morning.

The key holder and a new little piece for wall decor.

Our folding table the never gets used as a folding table. It is mainly the dump your junk off stop before you go in the house area.

Our new washer and dryer that work so well.

The bright and fun finished room. It may have taken awhile to finish but now I might even like to do laundry.

For The Birds.

I found this cute bird seed kids craft and I thought Talan would enjoy making them. So one afternoon when the Thunderstorm rolled in we got out all the ingredients and started on our project.

The recipe is really simple.

Mix together a envelope of gelatine with 1/4 cup of water and bring to a simmer while stirring. continue stirring until the gelatine is dissolved.

 Stirring and Stirring.

Remove from heat and let cool for a minute.

Stir in the 3/4 cup birdseed. adding a little more if there is liquid still in the bottom of the pan

Lay your cookie cutters out on wax paper and fill half way with the birdseed mixture.

Cut your twine, knot the end and push the knot down into your birdseed.

Continue filling with birdseed, covering the end of your twine and knot.

Push the birdseed evenly into the cookie cutter until it's full.

Allow them to dry overnight. turning them over every now and then.

Remove from the cookie cutters and hang them in your trees

This project was the perfect age level for Talan. He is old enough to do simple cooking on the stove and it didn't have too many steps for him to get bored. I love spending time with just him, he always says something that makes me laugh. During the project he said "Mom don't eat the bird seed because it might turn you into a bird." What a character.

I am Bored!!!!

What do you do when your bored? I grab my camera and have an impromptu photo shoot. Just a few of the photos I captured of my handsome boys.

24th of July Richfield Trip

Every year the Christensen family packs up and goes down to Richfield for the 24th of July Celebration. It is a lot of work to get ready, but it is well worth spending time with the family.

The boys are loaded in the truck and I hope they have enough electronic devices to keep them entertained on the road trip.

It was hot in Richfield so as soon as our trailer was un-hitched we had to cool off in the pool.

Talan loves to swim around the pool in his life jacket. His favorite pool game is chasing everyone around the pool and squirting them with his water gun. Watch out because nobody is off limits.

Lincoln floating around the pool in his life jacket. He was giggling the whole time he was floating around.

Jenny and Talan.

3-2-1 Blast Off.  Lincoln loved being tossed in the water.

The boys enjoying the cool water.

Everyone who was not in the pool was hanging out in the shade. It was fun to spend the afternoons hanging out and snacking on all the goodies everyone brought.

Lincoln sound asleep after a long, hot day.

Saturday we all went into Monroe to the town's celebration. Lincoln said he wanted to drive.

All the kids got a balloon.

The kids had a fun time hitting each other with the balloons while waiting for the parade to start. Lincoln's balloon only lasted about 15 minutes before he manged to pull it off the string.  As it was flying away Lincoln ran down the sidewalk chasing after it. When I finally caught up to him, he stopped and said Bye-Bye Balloon and sadly watched it float away.

Cousin Bailey, Cousin Malena, Lincoln and Talan. I tried a few times to get a good picture and this is the best I could do.

Lincoln and I waiting for the parade to start.

Grandpa trying to contain Lincoln from running up and down the sidewalk yelling at the top of his lungs.

Bailey was the only one who liked to have her picture taken. Every time I took her picture she would run over and want to see it on my camera.

Still hanging out while waiting for the parade to start.

Bailey and Talan waiting for the candy throwing to start.

Yay! They had so much fun, gathering up as much candy as their little hands would hold.

I love the little home town parades. They throw tons of candy for the kids and have fun floats like this one. This is everyone running from the boys champion baseball team who had Super Soakers and was attacking the crowd with water. Talan loved it and wanted them to squirt it in his mouth.

They threw out so much candy Lincoln even managed to grab a few pieces.

Lincoln had the best seat on the parade route

One of the many Otter Pops the kids caught. I literally think Talan ate 4. Talk about a sugar overload.

The race car that burned out on the parade route. It was a little scary, I was worried that he might lose control and go into the crowd. This is definitely not something you would see in one of the larger parades. Talan loved the loud roar of the engine.

Talan and his bag of candy. I will never need to buy Tootsie Rolls or Salt Water Taffys again.

After a morning at the parade it was time to hit the dirt. Talan was so excited to hit the red rocks on the 4-wheelers. Helmet on and ready to roll.

They boys are off. Jason said that as they were riding Talan keep saying faster Dad faster. When I took him riding he keep asking if we could get off this mountain and go back to camp. I guess I am a scary driver.

Lincoln hates to ride the 4-wheelers, but likes to wear the helmets.

Lincoln was supposed to be taking a nap. He had been quiet for a few minutes so I thought he was asleep, I went to check on him and found him lounging around playing with his Thomas toy. I love the crossed legs.

We spent another afternoon cooling off in the pool. The boys had a great time floating in the tube that we smuggled in from Mexico.

Talan relaxing in the tube with his shades.

Lincoln is so cute. I love his mischievous looks he gives.

Kady and Jenny playing ball with Baylie and Lincoln.

Lincoln came out of the back of the trailer with my glasses on. What a funny little boy.

Lincoln was running around the campsite and fell and bit his lip. He was supposed to be eating the Popsicle to keep the swelling down. He didn't eat much but he managed to dip it all over the trailer. Their is nothing worse than sticky Popsicle on the floors.

The boys playing Nick Jr.

Every year we have a big group dinner. The food is always wonderful and we all over eat. This is the kids and Grandpa C enjoying a Popsicle for dessert.

After dinner we went to the park to play and burn off a few calories.

Lincoln found  Aunt Mickelyn's cookies on the table and was eating them as fast as he could.

The cookies were so good he was eating the crumbs off the table.

Just relaxing at camp.

Jason, Curtis and I went on a great ride above Richfield. I kept up most of the way, until they got to some steep hills, that is when I bailed out and headed back to camp. Richfield is a great place to ride 4-wheelers, there are so many trails to explore.

On top of the bluff over looking Richfield.

Going to Richfield over the 24th of July is a Christensen family tradition. We usually go every year. I even took Talan when he was 6 weeks old. Little did I know that it was going to be 113 degrees, but the little guy survived and loves to go down. This is our first Richfield trip with a trailer. We use to rent a cabin and one time we even stayed in the  tent. It is nice to be able to cook our own meals, shower when we want and have an AC. We spent  our days swimming in the pool, riding the 4-wheelers riding around the bluffs above Richfield and hanging out with the family. While on one of our rides we saw what appeared to be a pond just outside of Richfield. When we got back to camp Jason and I decided to load up the boys a go in search of this mystery pond to see if we could catch any fish. We drove around the area and couldn't find it. We drove over to Annabella and found a road called Heppler 's Pond Road. Since it was named Heppler's Pond Road we figured it must had a pond near by. We drove for a mile on a dirt road along the foot hills listening to Tim McGraw with our windows rolled down. We finally found the pond, but decided we were having more fun driving down our dirt road. Our road ended in the cute little town of Glenwood. It was fun to explore the towns around Richfield. I love the small town feel. Everyone seems so relaxed and just enjoying life. The 24th of July in Monroe was so neat. No big commercial floats, simply the town's people driving tractors, kids on firetrucks and Rodeo Queens. It is what I see as a true traditional American parade. It was a great vacation and I am sure many more 24th of July's will be spent in Richfield.