Witchy-Poo

Friday morning I took Braden to Gardener Village to see their halloween decorations. After he rode a poiny, we ate lunch at Archibalds and spent about and hour looking at all of their witches. Of course, when we stopped at the first witch I thought we might be there all day. The witch was attached to the restaurant tower as if she had just crashed into it while flying on her broom. Braden didn't think it was funny or scarry - he was just VERY concerned that she was probably hurt. He demanded we stick around until she fell so we could help her. It took a few minutes but I was fainlly able to explain that when she was ready to come down, there would be a team of people helping her. He was satisfied enough to see the rest of the decorations and I was thrilled to be reminded of what a sweet boy I have!

Braden, sitting-a-spell with a Gardner Village Witch.

The Sleepover Reciprocates

Sarah and Brandon took their turn having Braden sleep over on Friday night. Aaron and I were excited to have some time to ourselves but Braden ... well, lets just say that Christmas pales in comparison. Braden asked me every day whether it was his time to sleep over at Tyler's house. And on Friday, it took him 2 hours to fall asleep for his nap because he know that Auntie Sarah would be there to pick him up when he woke up.

While he was gone, Aaron and I did a corn maze and went out to dinner (brining home fresh salsa - yay!) We ran out of time to sit in the massage chairs at Brookstone (one of my new favorite date activities) but it was still wonderful. And to top it off, when we picked Braden up on Saturday, he told us in no uncertain terms that he wanted us to go away and leave him there. It is so nice knowing that Braden had even more fun than we did! Thanks Auntie Sarah and Uncle Brandon!

Jason Turns 25

Last weekend we celebrated Jason's birthday at Benihana. It was a really fun meal. Jill joined the rest of Aaron's Dad's family and even though it was hard to talk across the table, it was great just to get together and enjoy such delicious food. I sure wich I could cook like that!

Weekend Getaway

This weekend we went to stay at my cousin Danny's home for an evening. Danny and Carrie were the perfect hosts - filling us full of delicious food and providing the best entertainment possible - time to spend catching up with them. We had a great BBQ (with its own fire display), fresh peach cobber, delicious breakfast smoothies and even lunch before we were off. It was so fun to spend time with them and such a lovely drive thru the fall colors of the Logan area canyons on the way there and back. Thanks for the great time!

We forgot our camera so this is my best effort to capture the fire display provided by Danny as dinner entertainment. In actuality, the flame might have been a bit smaller but the BBQ was much more impressive!

The Healing Field

Last Monday we took Braden to the Healing Field. It was sobering to walk thru a field filled with so many flags in perfect rows - reminding us of the lives lost on September 11, 2001.

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Just a few of the flags at teh Sandy, Uta Healing Field

Gymbo Turns 2!

Life is full of mysteries - like why Hawaii has "interstate" roads (and why anyone actually reads my blog ...) So it was no real surprise to get an invitation to Gymbo's 2nd birthday party after having attended Gymboree play and music classes for MORE than 2 years now. The irony was completely lost on Braden, however, who enjoyed every minute of it. He bounced down an imaginary huge cangle, jumped into an intertube birthday cake and the "real" Gymbo even gave him a cupcake. I think he has made a friend for life!

Braden and Gymbo. BFF (or at least until the sugar rush was over...)

Braden the Brute

People have joked that Braden lifts weights during his naps. Never have I been more inclined to believe that than yesterday, when I checked on him taking a nap and found he had put his fist thru the wall. For a fraction of a second I was upset with him and wanted to tell lhim to be more careful. But then the absurdity of a 2 year old being able to punch thru the wall hit me. Even stranger was the truth - that our sprinklers had wet the bricks which had sucked the water into the house and moistened his drywall to the point that it would cave in if pushed. Aaron has been busily adjusting our sprinklers and when the bricks dry completely we will fix the gaping hole in the wall that is next to Braden's bed. In the meantime it is covered with plastic and posterboard and Braden has been asked not to hit it very hard :)..

A Room with a View

Like most everyone else, we need more room in our house. We are addressing this a few different ways. First we have been busily dejunking lately which has been great. Aaron sold his old air hockey table, projector, etc and has even taken some loads to the DI of his own volition. In fact, I can't keep up with him!

Second, we have had a contractor come look at our house who will give us some options for adding onto it. When? - we have no idea. He was really prompt to come over and look at the house but that was a few weeks ago and we haven't heard anything since.

Third, we have looked at a few houses to get an idea of what we could get in our price range if we moved. So far nothing is perfect. We saw one with the most amazingly large back yard that backed a nature preserve forest with a stream in it but the house was about as bad as it could get. Then there is the house I am currently in love with. It would meet all of our needs. It has huge windows, a nice backyard (that you can see from the huge kitchen windows). It has a playhouse in the back, a laundry chute, two sinks int he kitchen, a double door entry with no stairs which would be great in case I fall and break my leg again. :) (After all, it is probably just a matter of time ...) It has a covered patio, a deck with hot tub that is just outside the Master Bedroom via french doors. It is also two blocks from a park with a playbround and tennis court. BUT it has a few tragic flasws: a busier street than we like and sloped driveway (very unrealistic in Utah winters). Oh well. I just had to talk about it so you can share my momentary mourning. I will get over it and find another home. But I just have to revel in the heartbreack for a little while :).

Destruction of Tip Tip Dig Dig

Mike and Becca sent Braden the book Tip Tip Dig Dig for his birthday last year. He really loved it and I really liked the artwork. In fact it's cure artwork ended up being the cause of its untimely demise. As I contemplated how to change the wall decor in Braden's room, and saw how expensive anything I could buy would be ... the simple yet fun paintings of that poor little book drifted into my head. And since it was an oversized book, it was large enough to cut down to fit in every frame I had. Sorry Auntie Becca. I hope you take htis as the compliment it truly is! And if you aren't sure what to get Braden for his next birthday, there is a certain book Braden seems to be missing ... :)

Braden's First Sleepover

On Friday, September 12, Braden and Tyler had their first sleepover. Of course it wasn't their idea - we offered to take Tyler so that Sarah and Brandon could have a night off and plan to make this a monthly trade. They played together all night and then actually fell asleep in the same room (though it took about 45 minutes of constant reminders that they were supposed to be quiet and fall asleep). The next day we took them to the Zoo and had Tyler back with Sarah by about noon. (only about 4 hours after she was ready to have him back I think!)

Tyler Tyranasaurus and Braden Brontosaurus on the leopards at the Hogle Zoo Wild Animal Carousel.

Big Boy Bed

It appears that Aaron and I tend to resist change a tini bit. It took us 12 years to get married, 5 more years to have Braden and 2 to take away his "ba-ba." Well, after much delay, we transitioned Braden to a "big boy bed" a few weeks ago and are LOVING it. Our fears that he would roll out in the night never materialized - even without a railing. And he has only tried to get himself "up" when he was supposed to be sleeping once so far.

Decoraing his new room has been a challenge (mostly because I am design-inept) but after ordering the quilt set he chose, it feels like we are going in a fun direction. (Yes - he chose it. I did only offer him two options, both of which I approved of, but he DID choose this one.)

Braden's new captains bed.

Christensen Family Vacation at Bear Lake

In August we camped at Bear Lake for another Christensen family vacation. We got to bring Simba and Thor and had a great time eating shakes, floating in the lake, and roasitng marshmellows over our portable firepit (aka a little barbeque that we put some logs in for our fire). As usual we forgot to take any good pictures (I guess we are always just having so much fun with the Christensens that we forget to get the camer a out) but Aaron did supply us with this one of Cheryll, Karen, Braden and I floating on the lake.

Balloon Festival

The morning after the fair, Aaron let me sleep in while he took Braden to the Sandy Balloon Festival. When they arrived, the balloons were just launching and before they left a few balloons had landed. They had fun looking a a fire truck and Braden even got to eat a muffin after refusing every other option Aaron offered. (Tastly - as Braden would say!) Braden still talks about how much he loved it (and I still remember how nice it was to lay in bed.) What a great day for everyone!

Braden at the Sandy Balloon Festival.

The Fairest of Them All

OK - I admit that we are a bit repetitive. We spend lots of time with ducks (though less since Simba ate some of our visiting duck's babies) and we also go to a lot of fairs. Normally fairs aren't really Aaron and my cup of tea. With Braden now, however, we have become connoisseurs and our favorite is the Salt Lake County fair. It is small enough to be very personal but large enough to offer lots of fun opportunities. This year we watched pig races, rode some rides that looked like they were going to fall apart, and then finished with a grand finale - Braden's first helicopter ride.

Braden making a new friend on the boat ride.

During the helicopter ride, we all loved looking atht eutah city scape below, but Braden's favorite part was being silly over the headsets.

Shakespearean Festival with Christensen Family

The Christensen's have gone to the Utah Shakespearean Festival every year for longer than I have been part of the family. At first we never missed either. And then I got pregnant with Braden ... This year, after learning that the festival offers babysitting during the plays, we were able to revive the traditionand saw Cyrano DeBergerac. We loved the play and Braden loved the babysitting - so much so that he was the only one still awake at almost midnight - trying not to miss anything. Unfortunately we didn't revive the tradition of taking a photo there, so I have to resort to using one of Cyrano. Hopefully we will remember next year!

Cyrano - a wonderful play though just a touch sadder than Roxanne which is what I was expecting.

Parker Family Vacation

This year the Parker family vacation was held in Hyrum, Utah. And for the first time in years, everyone was able to make it. Why? Well, it was sort of mandatory because it was time for anotehr family photo. We stayed at the Morris' vacation home near the lake and had a great time. We went for morning bike rides in the countryside with Braden and Tyler (and later Ashlee) in the bike trailer spotting horses, cows and goats at almost every property we passed. Becky introduced me to the most delicious and healthy frozen fruit shakes. And Aaron and I generally relaxed - reading books, discussing what we want to do with our lives, watching the kids, etc. Other highlights included a farm tour in Logan, a pretty neat dollar store in Hyrum and getting to visit Danny, my cousin who is a Radiologist in Logan. (I just love him and his family and can't wait to see them again soon!) It was so nice to spend time with Mike and Becca and Becky and Jere. I wish family vacations happened more often!

The onlye family photo with Braden looking at the camers: from left to right in family gruops - Sarah, Brandon and Tyler, Dad, Becca, Adam Mike and Anna, Becky, Ashlee, Jere and Nick, Mom, Kim, Max, Abby, Bena dn jack, Natalier, Aaron and Braden.

Braden, 2 years 10 months

4th of July - Another First

On the 4th of July we went to Centerville to do the "small town" celebration (ironically it is bigger than the one by Sandy City). We had waffles at my parents house and then watched the parade. It wasn't Braden's first parade, but he certainly got into it more than he had in the past. About half way thru, Aaron was able to convince Braden that he was supposed to collect the candy that everyone was throwing. Once he caught on, he shamelessly begged every passing group for anything that they might be willing to part with. What a proud moment ...

Braden eating his first otter pop at the Centerville 4th of July parade - cousin Abby in the background watching for more candy.

Visit from Stephanie and Tate

In June, Stephanie (Aaron's cousin Denny's wife) and her son Tate came out to visit the Yonally clan. For us, Tate was a darling reminder of the past - though I think for Stephanie, Braden may have been a frightening omen of the future. We went to the Children's museum and ate dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen where I did NOT win $10,000 (so much for "The Secret").

Tate waiting for Braden to fill his tank at the Utah Children's Museum

Cleveland Trip - Stops

I didn't think I would love traveling across the country with a 2 1/2 year old, but I did. I dreaded planning stops every few hours, but when it came down to it, I loved them more than he did! Here are some of the fun things we did to keep the road trip from being too overwhelming.

We stopped at Da Vinci's Fun Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Not the best pizza ever, but we had a great time with the race track, climbinb zone and gamed.

Braden saying hello to a turtle at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The aquarium was beautiful but almost overwhelming - and a little bit scary for Braden.

Loyce, Graden and I at the Museum of Science and Instrstry in Chicago (the next morning). The museum was huge - with full sized versionsof so many types of transportation - including a u-boat and Braden adn Aaron toured and teh 747 behind us in this photo.

Loyce and Braden checking out the Chicago city model in the amazing train exhibit.

The Jewish community center park in Cleveland. One of our favorite stops. (Loyce with Braden and Aaron with Ashlee)

Aaron and Braden on the camel ride at the Cleveland Zoo.

Feeding the lorikeets at the Cleveland Zoo - I love their Australia exhibit!

Smoke signals at the Great Lakes Science Center - Cleveland.

After so many things to see and do, Braden took a needed rest with Granda on a Chicago bench before going to the Museum of Natural History.

The Museum of Natural History - Chicago on the way home

Feeding a camel an icecream cone at the Folsom Children's Zoo - Lincoln, Nebraska - on the way home

Posing with Lincoln in Wyoming.

Cleveland Trip - Family Tour

Since we were driving across MOST of the country for this trip, it was easy to fit in a few visits to relatives. Although weather tried to get in the way a few times, we ended up seeing everyone on our list at least once.

Becky, Jere, Nick and Ashlee

After spending a week in Cleveland, Loyce flew out to catch her step daughter-in-law's graduation and my sister Becky and her family came down from Ann Arobor for the weekend. Our only glitch was a little complaint from the downstairs neighbor as the kids played super heroes - jumping off the furniture. (Clearly she has no idea how loud our kids COULD have been if they had been trying). We took them to our favorite park at the Jewish communicty center where I took as many pictures of them as I could with almost none of them turning out well. We also went to the Cleveland Zoo and to the Great Lakes Science Center. But I think the thing they loved best was crashing the pool at the Hilton. What is it with kids and water?

The entire gang at Cleveland Zoo - Aaron, Becky, Nick, Jere, Braden and Ashlee

Nick doing a simulation at the Great Lakes Science Center

Ashlee and Jere on the teeter totter at the Jerish Communicty Center

Becky and Jere - taking advantage of the cold evening

Mike, Becca, Anna and Adam

Loyce's return flight from the graduation was delayed by weather and I wondered if she would be ready to set out for Independence, KY to see my brother, Mike, and his family. Fortunately for me, Loyce is always up for an adventure and just hours after she finally got back to us, we took off again. We met Mike and Becca at the Newport Aquarium which is now my favorite aquarium. It was well designed for children 4 amazing fish tunnels. We even got to see a shark feeding. I was thrilled to be able to stay at their lovely home which I had never seen before. WE visited their local park in the evening and had amazing bagels for breakfast (I forgot to mention those in the food tour entry!).

Braden and Anna playing hide and seek from the camera

Anna about to race up the ladder

Baby Adam and his beautiful blue eyes

Becky again

We only intended to see Becky once when we originally made our plans, but decided it would save us some time to stay at their house after Aaron's last day of class. It was so much fun for me to get to see Becky's house, too - with the lovely mural she painted for Nick's room and to appreciate what she means when she tells me it is tiny. (Good things come in small packages, right?)

Theresaand Kumeresh (and pets)

The weather kept us from seeing Theresa, Aaron's cousin, on the way to Cleveland, but we were determined to see her on the way back. Staying with Becky put us just a few hours ahead of the game on our return trip and made all of the difference for us to get spend a little awake time with Theresa and Kumeresh. Their house in Wellington, Colorado was lovely and I was very envious of their 3 bedrooms on eone floor and completely unfinished basement. Braden loved their dog and cats. They were the perfect hosts - even insisting on cooking us pancakes at 4am the next day so that we could have breakfast before we left. Watch out Theresa - we might just drop in more often!

Our 3am chef, Theresa!

Cleveland Trip - The Food Tour

The trip to cCleveland was filled with amazing food. We had a delicious BBQ dinner and pancake breakfast with Theresa, Aaron's cousin in Colorado. We had some amazing BBQ Pizza, Chinese and "Cheddars" with Mike, Natalie's brother in Kentucky. And in Chicago we decideed we wanted to try the famous Chicago style hot dogs pizza and popcorn. The pizza and hot dogs were great. (Chicago dogs have mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices and peppers.) But the popcorn...

I realize ordering popcorn sounds easy. Well, so is reading signs for most other people But unfortunately this is me we are talking about. Lets see if you can spot our mistakes before I point them out.

1 - Loyce and I entered the popcorn place and stood trying to figure out what we were supposed to order.

MISTAKE: Never enter a popcorn place BEFORE you have decided what you want. Don't know what your options are? Too bad. You are in Chicago now. Remember the soup nazzi? Enough said.

2 - We satarted to ask questions about Chicago style popcorn and whether there was toffee popcorn but became very confused when the person who was supposed to be helping us folded her arms and refused to look at us or talk to us anymore.

MISTAKE: Never enter a popcorn place BEFORE you have decided what you want. Never Never Never.

3 - Loyce ordered a tin of popcorn and I ended up getting another fellow to say they would get me what I wanted. As it turned out I wanted nothing because that is what I got. Loyce, on the other hand, got her tin but didn't wait in the right place for her change.

MISTAKE: Not telepathic? Popcorn probably isn't for you.

As it turns out, Chicago style popcorn is a mix of a great caramel corn and cheese popcorn. Doesnt' sound good, does it? Well, it is. Even Aaron could see why people would like it (and YES that was after actually tried it.). My only complaint is that the cheese popcorn is covered with so much brigh orange cheesy butter that it is really EASY to walk a few blocks in Chicago with it all over your face before your mother-in-law bursts out laughing at you. Well, at least it is easy for people who can't read signs or order popcorn.

Cleveland Trip - the Hotels Tour

As you can imagine, we had the opportunity to stay at a few different hotels as we drove to and from Cleveland. The nicest hotel was the Chicago Hilton with its luxurious rooms and ornate architectural details. Of course I didn't notice HOW ornate it was until a cleaning lady gave us quite a stare as we sat eating our chicago hotdogs and popcorn on the floor outside our room to allow Braden to sleep...

The hotel that suited us the best was the Residence Inn where we stayed for the 2 weeks that Aaron was in class in Cleveland. There we had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, dining area and living room - keeping us a little safer from censure during naptime.

But the most interesting hotel by far, was the one we found at the end of our first long day (see earlier blog) at a Colorado resort. The area was beautiful - set in the mountains surrounded by snow capped pine trees with a lovely view of a frozen lake. And although the hotel was older, when we went inside we were amazed to find a beautiful gas fireplace. So why "interesting" and not "amazing"? Simple, I averaged the thoughts I had about it that night. I thought it was amazing when I first saw the gas fireplace. I thought it was interesting when I turned up the thermostat and the gas fireplace came on as the room's only heat source. And I thought it was irritating as the night wore on and the fireplace woke us up repeatedly as it blazed into action to heat he room 1-2 degrees before it would cut off and wait to perform its duty again in a few minutes. Interesting. Very interesting ...

Are you Smarter than a 2nd Grader?

After being home from Disneyland for 1 1/2 weeks, we packed up the car (andAaron's Mom, Loyce) and drove to Cleveland. We knew it was going to be a long trip so we brought games, movies and food for the road. Sadly we forgot our 2nd grade reading comprehension primer that apparently would have come in very handy.

Only a few hours into our journey, as we sped east thru sunny Wyoming, we spotted a sign that said:

Road Closed Ahead.

Hmmm. It was so puzzling. What could this sign really mean? After all, we were on I-80. The "I" stands for Interstate. Not the kind of road you can just "close". Especially not on a sunny day in May. Its not like some abominable snowstorm was ravaginging the entire area near Cheyenne preventing ANY alternate routes. We decided the sign must have MEANT to say: Road Closed Ahead, Alternate Provided, and we continued on our merry way.

We remained sure of our conclusion even after being presented with about 10 additional versions of the above sign, all worded differently yet failing to mention an alternate route. Our spirits were not dampened when dark looming clouds hid the sun and snow began to swirl in the air around our van. We didn't lose hope when we started passing truck after truck parkeed by the side of te road - truckers give us so easily, don' they? In fact, we weren't completely clear on the meaning of the sign until we got to the police road block and had to have it explained to us VERY directly. (Did the officer really have to be so rude? Its not like we're idiots - oh wait ...)

Perhaps if we had learned our lesson we would have booked a room in the closest hotel, wated for the storm to pass and continued on the next morning. Instead, we decided to change the world to fit OUR version of reality and back-tracked to find the closest alternate route. 5 hours later as we stared with amazed deja vu at our alternate's "Road Closed Ahead" sign we did what any reasonable person would do. We took the sign at its word, turned the car around, and found the nearest hotel. Horray for a college education.

Sea World - A Vacation from Disneyland

It seemed a little much to spend 5 whole days in Disneyoland so on day 3 we took a vacation from Disneyland ... at Sea World. We loved feeding the dolphins, seals and batrays and probably spent more buying fish to feed them than it cost to get into the park! We also saw the seal and Shamu shows. Both were great, but we have to recommend getting lunch reservations for Shamu. It was so nice to saunter in a few minutes before the show to our reserved seats and delicious sack lunch. Braden's even came in a Shamu lunch box! And all of that for about the same cost as eating lunch at the food stands elsewhere in the park. Does it make up for the amount we paid for the fish . . . no, but it was a nice start!

Turtle Talk with Crush

If anyone were to ask us for Disneyland advice - we would first provide a huge list of rides and shows that 2 1/2 year olds should probably avoid (too bad we didn't a comprehensive list ourselves) and then strongly recommend taking time to see Turtle Talk with Crush - a digitally animated show in which Crush actually participates with the audience.

After a quick introduction, Crush singled out audience members to talk to. And who did he pick first? The "mini man" in the front row - aka Braden. He asked Braden his name which Braden stutterred back to him. Crush laughed and stuttered the name back but then used the name correctly from then on. He got Braden to say totally sweet (with took some effort but made the audience go wild). He also asked Braden where his parents were - and when he saw we were sitting right next to Braden, responded “Short leash, man.” Crush answered other questions like if he had any dumb relatives (he talked about his in-laws) and whether he could swim outside his shell (at first he said no, then said he wasn't sure and began trying to do it by pushing against rocks and stretching as hard as he could which had us all rolloing with laughter.) It was one of the highlights of the trip!

Disneyland - Playing with Pluto

Needless to say - there were other parts of the Disneyland vacation that didn't get photographed (or at least photographed well) but are stil worthy of mention - Turtle Talke with Crush (my next blog entry), and the night we played with Pluto.

After our first long day at Disneyland, we stumbled across Pluto while leaving the park. Since Braden LOVED the characters, he started giggling almost instantly. In no time at all he and Pluto had developed a game where Braden would put his hand in Pluto's mouth and then both of them would laugh hysterically (albiet silently on the part of Pluto). After a few minutes we told Braden that it was time for other kids in the now growing line to have a chance to see Pluto as well. We grabbed his hand to pull him away and someone had a fit. Was it Braden? No - it was Pluto! He must have been infected by Braden's contageous laugh - because he kept pulling Braden back and begging for Braden to keep playing with him. It took us several minutes to convince Pluto that he NEEDED (perhaps because it was his JOB) to give attention to the other kids as well. Needless to say, Pluto is now Braden's favorite Disney character!

Disneyland Vacation

In April we decided to take our first Disneyland vacation - and what a great vacation it was! Even though we misjudged Braden's readiness for certain rides/shows, most of the time was an absolute blast. In fact, if it weren't for having caused his new fears of monsters and the dark (perhaps it WASN'T the best idea to take him in the Bugs Life theather where they told him they were gointg to spray him with acid and then let him be devoured by spiders) the trip would have been perfect!

So what did Braden love so much? The family, the characters and the rides:

We went with Braden's Christensen grandparents. We also met up with the Schlepps and Gallis - but weren't smart enough to take pictures with them. We just aren't rocket scientists, are we?

Braden at breakfast with Minnie and friends. The best breaksat we have ever had - possibly because Minnie made the waffles!

Stealing a hug with Donald before anyone had noticed he was there.

Riding Dumbo with daddy.

Protecting the universe from the evil forces of Zurg - with the help of Grandma dn Grandpa Christensen. (Buzz Lightyear was Braden's favorite ride)

Grandparents are the BEST!

Even though this picture was taken at Disneyland (I'll get to that in a later blog) I loved the photo so much that I thought it ought to have its own entry. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to know that Braden has other people in his life that love him as much as Aaron and I do - his grandparents. Growing up I only had one that lived close enough (and survived long enough) to be a major part of my childhood. Braden still has 5! And what does he think of them? The smile in this photo says it all. He loves each and every one and talks about them constantly. So, in case we don't say it often enough, thank you Grandparents. We love you!

Lynn and Braden - proving that even waiting in a Disneyland line can be the most fun thing ever . . . if you do it with your Grandpa!

Absense Makes the Heart Grow Stranger . . .

OK - so it has been a while since I have blogged. Sorry - but in order to have blogs worth reading (something I have not really focused on in the past) it becomes requisite that you DO things worth blogging about. For the last few months, we have been dedicated to enhancing your reading experience by first having fun experiences of our own. See? We were REALLY only thinking of you!

Farewell

You gnawed thru several couches

Pulled out chunks of our new rug

You made our lawn all lumpy

with the counless times you dug

You bit a can of shaving cream

which blew up on the spot

You chewed our wall to see if you

could find a laser "dot"

The massive holes you left did

truly shock me in the start -

But now you're gone, its NO surprise

a void has filled my heart

In parting I would like to say

I miss you my dear friend.

And given but the chance -

I'd let you chew it all again!

In loving memory of Oso

January 2000 - April 2008

Little Lambs

It clearly would not be a weekend in the Aaron Christensen hoursehold if we didn't spend time looking at some type of mammal or fish. Last weekend we went to Wheeler farm where we fed ducks (shock ans surprise) and visited all of the baby animals. Out of the cows, pigs, horses, rabbits, etc. Braden connected the most with this little lamb. He tried to connect with the farmyard cat - but fortunately for that feline he was unsuccessful!

Lashes I Love!

One of the many wonderful things about having a child is getting to see how the family genes mix to produce such a beautiful creature. (Yes, of course I am biased.) At this point I think he will have my mother's blue- grey eyes, Aaron's father's fuill blond hair, Aaron's mother's cute nose and my father's dimple in the chin. All features I love in both their original owners and in him. But the one feature for which I have a twinge of jealousy is the Christensen lashes. Full and long - if I had those I might take the time to put on mascara - or perhaps I wouldn't even have to!