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.