Snow Days

A few weeks ago we had some snow in Charlotte, NC.

Cooper had a great time playing in the snow. It had snowed over night, so when he ate breakfast, he couldn't eat fast enough to get outside. He put what snow stuff we had over the top pf his pjs and headed out.  He played until he was frozen.

When he came inside, I treated him with some hot chocolate, even though it was only 10 am by then.  It's not every day that we get snow in NC...

...or so we thought. Within a week it started snowing again. The flakes were huge.

Cooper and the neighbor girls, Amy and Jasmine, enjoyed playing in it.

And then it kept snowing...

And snowing...

Having no way to plow, salt/sand roads here, we were snowed in. The. That night the ice came, and we got 2" of freezing rain on top of the 5" of snow.  Then in snowed AGAIN, leaving us with about 8" of frozen white stuff everywhere.  Cooper was in heaven.

On the third day I was so stir crazy that I decided to shovel the driveway while Hudson took a nap. It was TOUGH. My parents taught me to work hard, and not quit, so I just kept plugging along. First I had to chop through the frozen ice/snow. Then shovel. It was so wet and heavy I could barely lift one shovel load at a time.   TWO HOURS later, I was nearly done. Hudson woke up, and Nate had a break from work meetings and was able to come help. I joked about him helping me with the last 5 feet of our very long driveway.

And then it snowed again.

It was pretty, but I was done with it, and ready for our normal seasonal weather.

Hudson watched the kids play in the snow.

He wanted so badly to go outside. Poor fella. Next year...maybe.

Crazy Cooper

Not only does Cooper wake up and take off like a rocket ship, not stopping until we force him to go to bed at night, he's always busy either pretending to be a rocket ship, figuring out how to "build" one (usually out of Duplos), or pretending something else.  He goes back and forth about 50/50 between pretending to be someone and building things.  The one toy he plays with every day, without fail, are his Duplos (preschool-sized legos).  I'm trying to hold off on Legos as long as possible, not wanting Hudson to choke on them (or me to step on them!).

Here are a few fun and crazy moments from my Coopstah:

Go, Iron Man!

 He wanted to do his hair himself, and spiked it really high.  Ha!  Today he did his hair himself again, combing it all smooth and straight, but in strange directions.  Then he looked in the mirror, and messed it all up, leaving it sticking up all over.  I guess he was trying for the "messy bedhead look," because a moment later he came back and asked, "Mom, does my hair look crazy or cool?"  I said, "What do you think?"  He thought for a second, and then said, "Cool!", smiled, and ran off happily.

On a similar note, he's starting to like to get dressed by himself, meaning putting his clothes on all alone, from head to toe, but he still has no interest in choosing his clothes.  Fine by me!

 About once a week we have a playdate with his friends, Ethan and Adison.  One particular day they came downstairs like this...

 Aaaaaaaand then there's this...

Need I say more?

Hudson's face in response to this latest dress-up character was priceless...

I know, Huddy, sometimes I just don't know what to think of this kid either.  But we sure do love him, his talents, his imagination, and his humor!!

Fun Findings at the Park

A few weeks ago we had an unusually warm, sunny afternoon.  I'm talking a high of 70.  So we headed to the park.  After playing tag on the playground, feeding the ducks, and exploring the mud and some trails, we came upon this...

 a tree felled by an actual beaver

 

"The Huddy Smile"

 And then we found this wigwam in the woods, probably built by a Boy Scout troop or something.  Cooper had a great time climbing it, and finding sticks to contribute to it.

Small Fries and Fry Sauce

After two weeks, our partying in Utah had to come to an end.  As one last hurrah before leaving, we took a trip to the local hamburger joint, JCW's, to get one last taste of fry sauce and grasshopper shakes.

Cooper and Calvin enjoyed eating the Oreo cookies off the tops of the shakes.

I enjoyed all of the above, but most especially my family.

Jaisie still wasn't sure about smiling for me.  I'm still a stranger to her.  :(

Tyler came over to play with Cooper for a few hours that afternoon before we had to leave for the airport.  Cooper idolizes Tyler.  I mean, seriously.  All we heard about was Tyler for days when we came home.

Alex came to pick Tyler up before we left, and they both snuck in one last snuggle with Huddy.

We were all sneaking in hugs before the final moments when we had to drive away.

Until next time, Utah!

We miss all of you every single day!!!!!

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission...

One of our church's Primary children's songs goes:

I hope they call me on a mission

When I have grown a foot or two

I hope by then I will be ready

To teach, and preach, and work as missionaries do!

While we were in Utah, we were lucky to be there when my nephew, Alex, received his mission call.  Being 18 years old (and having "grown a foot or two") he is eligible to go on a full-time 2-year mission for our church.  It is always fun when the prospective missionary has submitted his/her paperwork, and then they get to wait several weeks for that big white envelope to arrive in the mail, telling them where in the world they'll be serving for two years.

Much of the family gathered at my parents' house late one weeknight for Alex to open his mission call, which had arrived in the mail that afternoon.  We were all just as anxious and excited as he to find out where he'll be serving the Lord.  But first we had to call as many of the family as possible on our cell phones and put everyone on speaker.  It was quite the spectacle to see all the cell phones!  Despite our best efforts to remember everyone, we overlooked calling Camyll and Jason!  Clearly we were too excited to be thinking straight.

In our family missions have been in (these are all from memory, so I hope I'm right):

Grandpa Christensen was excused from serving a mission because he was serving in WWII at the time
Georgia, Atlanta (Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Lela Christensen)
Utah, Salt Lake City, Temple Square (Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Lela Christensen)
Delaware/Pennsylvania (Grandpa Willis and Grandma Karlene Mower)
Australia, Perth (Grandpa Willis and Grandma Karlene Mower)

Mississippi, Jackson (Nathan)

Washington DC/Delaware/Pennsylvania (Alan/Dad)

Ukraine, Donetsk (brother Bryt, and I'm sure I slaughtered the spelling of that city)

Canada, Alberta (Uncle Ron)

can't recall where my Uncle Dean went...??

Kentucky (Uncle Keith)

West Virginia (Uncle Kay)

Oklahoma (Uncle Bob)

California (cousin Carsen)

Bulgaira (cousin Daniel)

Romania (cousin Royce)

Texas, Houston (cousin Lara)

Alabama (cousin Lacey)

Texas (cousin David)

Wisconsin (cousin Aaron)

California, Sacramento (brother-in-law Jason Poulson)

Germany (brother-in-law Stettsen Olsen)

Thailand (brother-in-law George Stewart)

. . .

So you can see that Alex comes from a long line of missionaries (that's just family from my Grandfather down), who have spanned the globe in their missionary service.  There was no limit to the possibilities of where he could be called.

We all held our breath as he opened the envelope and read those words:

Elder Alex Jay Christensen...you have been called to serve as a representative for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...in the...

MEXICO, GUADALAJARA mission!

Much whooping, hollering, crying, cheering, hugging, and congratulating ensued.  I think little brother Tyler was the first one to give the new missionary a hug.

Congratulations, Alex! We are so proud of you for choosing to serve the Lord for two years!

And congratulations Jayson and Anna for getting your son to this point!

Alex reports to the missionary training center in Provo, Utah, in April.

A Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

Whenever we go to Utah, since it's not very often, we always try to make it a point to go visit my grandparents in their home so the boys can get to know them (and so I can visit with them too!)  We enjoy getting to spend time with them one-on-one, and not at a large family function.

Hudson Jay with his Great Grandmother, Lela Guymon Christensen

Cooper couldn't wait to get to their house to play with the big truck in the backyard, something he'd remembered from 14 months earlier.  This time it was in the snow!  I spend many a day/night playing in the snow in my grandparents' backyard.  I'm glad Cooper got the chance to do so too.  

Hudson Jay and his Great Grandfather, Kurt Jay Christesen

(Hudson's middle name is after my own father, Alan Jay, and my grandfather, Kurt Jay)

No visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house would be complete without playing with the marbles, the marble track, and the "old-time toys" from the basement.  Grandpa was showing Nathan some of his mementos from his career and such.  He was surprised to know that I already knew much about his career, but I always love hearing about the experiences of my grandparents.

A precious picture of me and the boys with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen, which I'm sure will be greatly cherished in years to come.  In this picture Grandma is 87, Grandpa 89, Cooper 4, Hudson 7 months, and I'm...well, 34. 

How lucky that my boys get to know great grandparents on both sides of our family!

Munchkins at the Museum

Another fun place we visited on our Utah vacation was the Hutchings Museum in Lehi, UT.  This little-known museum is a bit of a local gem.  The boys LOVED digging for dinosaur fossils in the sand.

Jaisie said, "Hey!  MY turn boys!"  They were hogging the step stool.

DINOSAUR ROOOOOOOOAR!

A cool cave

The expression on his face in this one is priceless.  He was definitely having a great time!

A cool Native American drum for them to pound on...

...and boy did they!!

At the end they got to dress up as pioneers.  Try getting four little kids to look at the camera all at the same time.  This is what you get...

After about 20 takes, we finally got one!

Our little Utah pioneers

Ready to take on the Wild West!

Thank you, Camyll, for taking us to this fun little place!!

Glowing Golf and Games

While in Utah we went miniature golfing with our cousins.  It was a glow in the dark course.  Cooper thought it was so cool how the stripes on his pants glowed.

We had lots of fun keeping the kids on task.

Even little Jaisie tried her hand at golfing.

Cooper had a great time.

Camyll, Jaisie, Calvin and Uncle Jason made it lots of fun.

Nate was his crazy self in front of the camera.

Hudson woke up from his nap, and I'm sure wondered where in the world we'd taken him.

After golf we played some video games.

Two crazy mommies

Coop can barely reach the gas pedal, but is always insistent to play on his own.

It was a fun afternoon for us and the kids.