Power outage fun

Thursday December 1st we had our power go out around 6:30 AM. It was a really scary experience with popping lights etc. This was during the big wind storm that passed through. When my parents power goes out it causes a lot of issues because they run off of well water not city water like most. Their water is really good and if you've ever tasted the North Ogden Stump water that is what it tastes like. However it makes it so the toilet doesn't work, you can't take a shower or have drinking water. So I decided I would pack a few things for the day and head to one of my grandparents. I knew the Barker's would be up that early so we went there. They took us in for the day and it was really nice! We talked, had soup and yummy bread for lunch and they let me take over their house for the day. Ty thought it was a fun adventure! My mom called the power company and they said it would be 3 days before they could get it back because we were only 1 of 3 homes affected in our little neighborhood. They had a lot bigger issues with some people in Davis county. Instead of invading my grandparents for 3 days Kip and I decided to go out to his parents and stay there until then.

The 3 days came and they finally fixed it by end of day Saturday. But then we had an even bigger issue. As my parents power was going you could smell burnt/hot wires and when they got the power on found out the furnace and stove wouldn't turn on. Since we didn't pack church clothes we came home and got ready for church, went to our ward, Gramly Jones fixed us a nice Sunday dinner and let me bake a cake for Grandma Barker's Birthday and we went to the Barker's to celebrate. We were able to stay at Kip's parents until Tuesday and my dad was able to fix the furnace himself but the stove is toast. There was a tree that fell over onto the power line that knocked out the power. This caused our power to short out and caused our furnace and stove's motors to burn up. Thankfully nothing else happened, we were all safe and that we are back home with minimal issues. I know some people had a lot bigger issues.

Luckily we have a few safe havens to go to if we are in need. My Grandpa and Grandma Jones, Grandpa and Grandma Barker and Allan and Annette. We are so lucky that they are so kind to open up there homes, feed us and let us take over a room anytime we need one. My parents are awesome to get everything going as quickly as possible and welcome us home when we arrived. We enjoyed the time we had to visit, eat good food, stay warm, give haircuts, read stories, have fhe and so much more.

Thanksgiving Christensen style

Branson loves McKay

Two of my handsome guys

Brynlee is getting so big and is such a good babysitter

Waiting to eat

Preparing the food

Burke loves to entertain with his funny YouTube videos-Love Josh in the background!

Grandma Beus loved the little puppies

Brother and sister

The boys loving on Aunt Ann

Ty was so excited to eat his first Chocolate pie that mommy made for him-He loves Chocolate as much as dad

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Utah Christensen family. This was the first year I have been away from my family for Thanksgiving and the first year we have spent it with Kip's on Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and I loved spending time with the family however I did miss my family a little bit. Burke and Michelle were our hosts and they did an excellent job. There were 28 of us at their house and that is a big sit down meal. Michelle said it was the biggest sit down meal she had hosted at her house. The food was awesome and the company was great.

We had a little scare part way through the day when Ty went missing. He was playing upstairs in their family room that is attached to the kitchen. I was feeding McKay and Kip was playing a game. Ty had to pass a lot of people to get out so I thought he would be fine playing. I had checked on him a couple of times and he was fine. I couldn't see his head when he was playing so I would have to stand up with McKay and go walk over a little bit to see where he was at. I had done this 2 maybe 3 times and was doing again. I am kind of a worry wart about checking on him. The last time I checked on him he wasn't there. So I looked in the spot he likes to play in which is her front sitting room. He wasn't there but the front door was opened. I look outside and he is in the front corner of Michelle and Burke's house with his vest half way on. I said, "Ty what are you doing? Where did you go?" (I was panicked at this point) and he said, "I playing mom, I playing!". Some of the older kids had gone out back and he thought he would go out and play to. Needless to say it scared me to death and I was watching him even closer the rest of the night. I am thankful I found him before he went wandering to far. He is not scared of anything and has a mind of his own.

Here are people we had fun spending time with:
Burke, Michelle, Brayden, Brynlee and Branson
Gary, Ann, Natalie, Rachel, Jacob, Josh
Jared, Mikhail, Peyton and Emery
Dale, Nicole, Kasey and Kale
Bud and Jeanene
Kaylie and her friend Jessica
Allan and Annette and Grandma Beus

Cameron, Kip's cousin came home from his mission the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Kip and him have been pretty close since Kip moved here after his mission.We didn't get to go see him the night he came home due to Kip working pretty late that evening. He came to Burke and Michelle's to see everyone that night. He is so much the same but you can tell he really loved his mission and has grown spiritually. My favorite part about seeing him that night was when he saw Grandma Beus and how he just hugged her a few times and cried because he was so happy to see her. It brought tears to my eyes. He also had some pretty cool stories to tell.

We had lots of fun and we were happy to spend the day with the Christensen's.

Things I am thankful for...

I have so much to be thankful for this year and I don't want to forget them so I am posting them quickly while my little guys are sleeping.

Kip
Ty
McKay
The gospel
My savior
Prayer
Nap time :)
Modern day stuff like washers, stoves, microwaves, internet, phones, cameras etc
A warm house to live in
Our cars
Family
Journals and blogs to remember our memories
Missionaries
Service men and women
Children
Being a mom
Being a wife
Cooking
Service
Scriptures

This little guy is so fun right now. Oh how I love him!

This handsome man holding Ty. Oh how grateful I am to have him in my life! Love you!

I <3 this little guy! He is such a sweet baby.

I am sure there are many more things that I could be thankful for but these are just a few.Thanksgiving is a fun holiday and always helps me remember to be thankful. I could do a lot better job than I am doing with showing my gratitude. I guess I better work on it.

 

Faith and prayers=my greatest blessing

It finally happened. I am officially a stay at home mom (I've had this dream forever!). Now all of this happened by accident but I think it was really a blessing from above. I was all prepared and ready ( well as much as I could be and secretly dreading) going back to work Monday November 21st. But my mom who has been our babysitter since I went back to work with Ty got a job. This is very good for her and my little brothers. She needs to be working and it all happened so perfectly. She didn't have to interview and her friend just recommended her. She did some job shadowing and of course they gave her the job. 

I have been thinking about what we would do with the kids ever since she got it. I DID NOT want my kids to go to a daycare. I don't judge anyone that has their kids in one but for me and my family it was just not an option. As Kip and I were discussing what we would do and how we would do it. We decided we would look at our budget one more time. We did and it's going to be tight but we are going to try and do it. It is what I've always wanted and Kip wants it to. 

 As we are working through this big change in our lives income wise, Kip is working hard at getting a new job. While still working hard at his current job and putting in tons of OT. He will hopefully know whether he gets it or not by January 1st. It has been a long process and he has worked very hard through it all. In the meantime I am enjoying my little ones and loving the time I have with them. I am so thankful my husband is such a hard worker and willing to take a big step with faith in trying it.

My little boys

Ty absolutely loves being outside. If someone says they are going outside he immediately says, "I go" "I come". He loves to get the eggs from the chickens with Grandpa, Caleb or Cache. He loves to play in the sand with Crystal. He loves walks with mom and McKay to see the horses. He loves picking apples from Grandma and Grandpa's apple tree. He loves the park and he is going to be devastated when it is to cold to go outside every day.

I am always amazed at how much he learns and the milestones he reaches. That is one of my favorite parts of being a mom is seeing what he learns and how much he grows. It is also one of the hard parts about being a mom is to see the mistakes he makes and learns from and I am sure it will only get harder as they grow up. He has been really cute lately. Some of the things he does that I want to remember about him at 21 months are:

He will run and get a blanket and say, "I freezing mom!"
When he counts he says, "1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10!"
When you ask him what his name is he says, "Ty, Ty"
When you ask him how old he is he will tell you 1 and hold up his finger but sometimes he says 2
When you ask him what McKay's name is he says, "Baby Brother!"
He loves nursery
He loves all his grandpa's and grandma's, aunts and uncles and cousins but especially loves Crystal, Cache and Noah
When you ask him who's boy he is he says, "Noah's boy"
He copies everything you say
He loves to sing songs
He is now sleeping in his own bed but occasionally coming in mom's and dad's at some point during the night
If he can't find McKay he says, "Where is McKay?"
He doesn't like it when McKay is crying and will get his paci and give it to him
When dad wakes up on Saturdays and Sundays Ty will say, "Morning dad!"
He loves to read the children's book of mormon
He just started saying the prayers at dinner

I am loving this age because he is really learning a lot. It makes me happy and sad at the same time to see how big he is getting. I never can believe how fast time flies.

McKay is still small to me but is starting to smile when you talk to him and seems to be growing so fast. He loves to eat and loves to be held. He really likes to be snuggled and warm. He is sleeping about 5-6 hours at night but will have an occasional bad night once in awhile where he will want to eat every 2 hours. He is really been fun for us.

McKay James Christensen

McKay James Christensen was born August 28, 2011 at 9:01 AM. He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 21 in. long. His original due date was September 14th but I was hoping he would come sooner because my sister Cassie was getting married September 10th. Most of you know we are the best of friends and I wanted her there and she wanted to be there. My doctor had planned on starting me on the 9th in the morning if I wanted but I just wasn't sure I wanted to be started. I have heard horror stories about it and I just wanted him to come when he was ready but also didn't want to miss Cassie's wedding. I just kept praying the baby would come when he needed to and that everything would work out.

Kip's work had rented out Lagoon Friday August 26th and it would be Ty's first time going. I knew I would have a hard time walking around but I wanted to see Ty for his first time. I decided to go. We walked around a lot that night from 6 PM to around 12 AM. It was a lot of fun but by the end of the night I was hurting. We didn't get home until around 1 AM and I had to be up at 6 AM for our Focus Four Run at work. As soon as I was up I started having contractions. They were very inconsistent but I knew they were there. I had them all day. They got closer around 5 to 6 minutes apart in the evening and I decided I would call the doctor. My doctor didn't answer and didn't call back. I decided I would just go to the hospital and get checked because the week before at my appointment I was already a 2 and 90% thinned. We went up to the hospital around 11:30 PM and I was a 3 +. My doctor was out of town and that is why she didn't answer or call back. They told me I could stay if I changed in 1 hour. An hour came and I hadn't changed so they sent me home.

We returned home around 1:30 AM and Kip and my mom went to sleep. My contractions got stronger and at 4:00 AM I woke them up to go up again. I was a 5 by then and they said I could stay. I got my epidural around 6:30 AM and it was heaven after that. I was able to sleep and around 8:00 AM Machelle my fill in doctor for Karen came in to break my water. After that I was fine for awhile then felt the baby slide into place and tons of pressure. I was just about to call Machelle when she came in and said she wanted to check me. She checked me and said you are ready let's have the baby. I started pushing and only pushed for two minutes and he was here.

The delivery was much smoother this time around and I didn't feel anything. I felt much better and have had an easier recovery. We had a ton of visitors at the hospital. One of my biggest fears about having kids so close in age was how Ty would adapt to having a new little one. I was so worried about him liking the baby and still getting the attention that he needed himself in being so little. I will never forget how precious it was the first time Ty saw McKay. He was so sweet to him and still is. He always says, Hi there or hello baby brother. It was a lot better than I thought it would be.

So lucky

I am loving being home with my little guys! I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom. Even from the age of a tiny little girl I always knew I wanted to be a mom and a mom only. I am enjoying that right now even if it is for a small time. Ty is at such a fun age right now although it is a little challenging. He is learning so much and talking so much. He is my big helper and makes me laugh all day long! He loves his new baby brother and is so sweet to him (he is a little rough but doesn't mean to be so rough). McKay is sleeper except when he is hungry or needs his diaper changed. He is a fun baby and has a sweet little spirit. I love having two little ones (As I was typing this Ty was climbing up on something really high).

I am often thankful that heavenly father allowed me to be a mother and trusts me with these special little spirits. They bring so much joy into our life and we are so lucky to have them. Kip is at work today and I can't help but miss him. I am thankful I get to stay home for a little while and that he works hard so that we can do that. I am way behind on blogging and need to update some things we've been up to but maybe I'll just start fresh. I will however post about McKay's birth and his stats.

New Baby here we come

We are excited to announce that we are expecting baby #2. We found out we were expecting on Ty's first birthday. It is a little fast but we are so excited! Ty will be a great big brother and he is already growing up so fast. The due date is September 14th and I know what we are having. Kip would like to be surprised again so if you would like to know text or call me.

It's been forever since I've updated and we've had tons going on. Ty turned one 01.18.2010 and we celebrated with a family birthday party. We were in the middle of moving and therefore had the party at Kip's parents house. It was so much fun and Ty loved the cake!

We decided to move in with my parents and rent out our house so that eventually I can be a stay at home mom. I wish I could work for my company from home so that I would still get to do things with Ty but that isn't an option right now. We are having a lot of fun at my parents and Ty is loving the attention from his aunt, uncles and grandparents. It's been an adjustment for us.

Kip started a new job at Lifetime as a forklift operator until he finds something better. He has learned quickly and we are thankful for the income it provides. He has been applying at plenty of other places and hopes to find something he will enjoy.

We look forward to this Summer and we are hoping Spring is just around the corner. Ty is getting so big and it will be a fun Summer with him exploring new things.