Fun with a Few Ravens and Patriots Fans

In January my brother and his family came to visit us at our house.  Cooper and Ellie played and played all weekend.  When Ellie left on Monday, Coop wandered aimlessly through the house calling her name.  He sure loves his cousins!

The two of them had lots of fun coloring...

 ...and playing in the tunnel!

 We went to the giant indoor playground at Plaza Fiesta, and all of us (adults and baby Kate included) enjoyed playing on the slides and climbing through the tunnels, on the ladders, and ramps.

We climbed ALL the way to the tippy top of the playground--about 3 stories high!!  In this picture Coop is in this little bubble airplane thing that was completely suspended in the air at 3 stories high.  Kinda freaked me out, but he loved it!

 Bryt and Kate climbed to the top with us.

 And here's proof that I was there too.

 We all enjoyed going down the many slides together.  My phone camera isn't great for moving subjects, so these are a little blurry, but they're all we've got.

Here's Nathan and Cooper going down the racing slides.

 Ready, set, go!  Ellie and Cooper vs. Liz and Kate 

 Ellie and Cooper win!

 After all the slides, we played in the arcade for awhile.  Ellie won big at the "Deal or No Deal" game, winning like 20 tickets.  Coop was happy to pretend to play any of the driving games, or this "big gun" game. 

 We stopped in one of the stores, and before I knew it, Coop had tried on some womens' high heels.  Too bad the picture doesn't show the heels in the back.

 It was Kate's 1st birthday, so we were sure to celebrate with her.  She had an Elmo cake.

 Despite being exhausted from a long day of playing, she dug right in to eating her cake.  Happy 1st Birthday, Kate!

 Later that weekend it was the playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens... 

 ...and the Patriots.  Can you tell who was rooting for whom?  Uncle Jim and Aunt Denise came to be our reinforcements.  We couldn't let the Ravens fans outnumber the Patriots fans!

 Cooper was happy just to have so much family visiting our house.

 Ha--this was funny.  Uncle Jim's phone fell out of his pocket, down into our couch.  The lining of the couch has a hole in it, so the phone disappeared into the couch.  The guys had to turn it upside down, and get clear inside the couch to find it.  It seemed pretty funny to me.

 Ellie adopted Aunt Denise as her own.

 Both Cooper and Ellie enjoyed playing with Aunt Denise, especially with her cool iPhone.

We sure loved having family visit us!!  Come again soon!

A Few Videos - December 2011/January 2012

Here are a few videos from Christmas.  This first one is Cooper and his cousin, Tyler, dancing to Alex (cousin), playing Christmas songs on the guitar.  So cute to get all three of them in one video!



Here's Cooper on New Year's Eve dancing the night away with Calvin (3), Tyler (8), and Uncle Stettsen.



Lastly, Cooper was being funny on the swing set the other day.  He thinks it's hilarious to "run" when on the swings.  Just love hearing him laugh.

Christmas 2011 and New Year's 2012

During our trip to Utah in December, my sisters and I hosted a bridal shower for our sister, Chelsey, who is getting married in February.  This is the only photo from my camera for that night: a picture of Chelsey and her future Mother-in-law and Sisters-in-law.  Cassady took the rest of the pictures on her camera, and I haven't received them yet.  So here's the memory of that evening.  It was a lot of fun.

New Year's Eve was lots of fun and partying with the family again.  Cooper had a great time that night.

 Cooper and Aspen (cousin)

 Cooper and Uncle Jayson

Also during that week we spent an afternoon at my Grandpa & Grandma Christensen's house.  It was wonderful to spend the afternoon with just them, my sister Camyll, and her two kids.  Nice and quiet compared to the crowds of people the extended family gatherings usually bring.

With only a few of us there, Grandpa took a few minutes to share some of his mementos, things from his life that are meaningful to him.  It was very special and sweet to have him share things that he's not shared with many in the family, since it's not something he does with lots of people around.  I will always remember this.

 Cooper and Calvin had fun playing marbles with their Great Grandpa.  Grandpa made this marble track for his children!  Three generations later, the kids are still enjoying it.  In fact, this is why most of the great-grandchildren call these grandparents "Grandma and Grandpa Marbles."  Not only do they have an awesome marble track, they have many old-time toys from when my dad and his siblings were young, like Fisher Price Sesame Street Little People, race car tracks, lots of cars and trucks, and other fun toys that are of much better quality than they make now, obviously, because I doubt many toys Cooper has today will last through 50 years of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  The kids always love to visit and play with all the toys.

 Grandma also took a minute to share some of her keepsakes with us.  It was so much fun to have her show us some of her special things. 

 Cooper and his Great Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

 

Chrystal, Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

 The night before we left, we had a New Year's party with my Mom's family: Uncle Boyd, Aunt Kaylene, their kids, their kids spouses, and their grandchildren.  Cooper had a blast playing with Jaden (almost 3) and Keslee (4).  I didn't get a photo of them because while they did have lots of fun, most of my time was spent refereeing the three 2-yr olds, who went back and forth between elation and fighting.

No Christensen/Mower get-together would be complete without a picture of us kids in front of the fireplace.  I should do a blog showing all these pictures over the years....but that will be saved for another day.

We were missing Bryt and Aaron, but here we are (L to R): Jayson, Chrystal, Shelisa, Camyll, Chelsey, Austin, and Cassady

 

Fun with Cousins, Grammie, and Stettsen

We did so many fun things on our vacation.  Cooper's favorite was Kangaroo Zoo, a fun indoor play place with lots of bouncy houses and slides.  Cooper, Tyler and Calvin had fun just the three of them, running, jumping, climbing, and sliding for a few hours.  Sadly, only these two pictures turned out, none of them with Calvin.  I do have to say that Cooper surprised me with his climbing skills, being able to climb up many ladders/slides on his own, and keep up with the big kids.  The kid loves to climb, slide, and jump!  Thank you, Camyll, for finding such a fun place!

 Great picture of Tyler exiting the BIG slide.

 One day we took a break from all the running around, parties, and such, and played at Calvin's house.  Cooper loved playing with his "tousin Talben, " and also coveted his cool racetrack he got for Christmas.  These two are inseparable when they're together.  So fun to see them together.  Thank you, Camyll, for letting us tear your house apart and hang out.

 Love this picture of Cooper reading a story with Grammie.

 Cooper took right to Stettsen, our future brother-in-law.  I think he wore the poor guy out!

Adult Night Out--No Kids Allowed!

Nathan's last night in Utah we decided to go out to dinner with all the adults, rather than on a date just the two of us.  I'm sure glad we did!!  We went to Tucano's in Provo, a Brazilian steak house.  Yummy!!  Then we strolled around the Shops at Riverwoods.  The Christmas lights were more impressive than those at Temple Square, and we may have found a new Christmas tradition...

 The engaged couple, Chelsey and Stettsen

 LOL--we kept telling them to kiss, and then that the picture was blurry or didn't turn out, so they ended up kissing like 10 times before they caught on.  Chelsey was so embarrassed.  It was too cute.

 There were lots of happy couples that night.  Could it have been because all the kids were at home?!

Couldn't decide which picture I liked best of Dad and Mom...

 We had so much fun together that night!!  Yay for a fun night out with nearly all of my awesome siblings and their spouses.  Boo hoo that we were missing Bryt and Liz.  Can't wait for February when we're all together!!

Family Christmas Parties

Apparently I was having too much fun visiting and enjoying the parties at the family Christmas parties we went to in Utah to pause to take many photos.

At least I did get this adorable one of Cooper (2) and Natalie (4?)

 Coop LOVED riding the horse at Aunt Elise's house.

But nothing topped seeing the REAL horses in her backyard!

 A non-Christensen family member told me my daughter was adorable.  I would have loved to take credit for this cutie pie!

Nothing says family fun than a good ol' game of hearts with the girls!

 SO glad our Mower cousins came down for a visit!!  Aaron and Tonee left before it was picture time.  Here are all the "original" cousins, minus Aaron, doing the traditional pose in front of the fireplace mantle at Mom's house.

L to R: Jayson, Chrystal, Shelisa, Camyll, Chelsey, Austin and Cassady

My how we've grown! 

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of Cooper playing with his cousins, Keslee (4), Jaden (2-3/4), and Calvin (2-3/4) that night.  He had a blast playing with kids his age.  They were all so cute together!

Yay for parties with extended family we rarely get to see!

Dinosaurs! Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life

The day after Christmas we decided to do something fun as a family, and chose the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.  Cooper was very interested in the physics room.

We played with this mushroom cloud maker for awhile.

Cooper thought it was really cool.

 Steering wheels!!! (one of Cooper's FAVORITE things) 

 He got to build his own dinosaur, and feel what it was like to be a caveman in a cave.

 The BEST part was the water table with water, sand, AND dinosaurs!

 What's that, Mom?  No splashing?  Watch this! 

 Hmmmm...yep, I think I'm cute.

 Yep, definitely cute.

 SHARRRRRK!!!

Cooper has a pop-up book about a shark, which he insists on reading nearly every night for bed, so he was really excited to see this big shark exhibit.

 Not so excited about taking a picture with Mom.

 I tried to take a picture of the Brontosaurus skeleton.  It was HUGE!!

  Coop was more interested in running up and down the ramp...

...but he sure had fun at the museum with Dad, Mom, Chelsey and Cassady!