Christensen Family Reunion 2012

The last part of our trip we headed down to Ephraim for the Reuel and Vonda Christensen Reunion. The las time I went, Treyson was only 6 months old. The hold his big reunion every 2 years and it is so much fun. We all stayed in the snow garden dorms at Snow College. We were the only family that came on the Hal side plus Helen and Conrad's family (Daddy and Monique's daughter). Grandpa Hal and Fran are serving their missions so really it was just us.  We were sure missing all of Mama's C's other siblings but we represented the family well. It really is just so nice to see everyone and to see how big the Christensen Legacy is getting. 


Basically to keep everyone straight you just ask which of Reuel and Vonda's children do you belong to which is either.... Hal, Kaye, Andy, Carol and Janet. Then you just fill in the rest of the gaps if you can. Its such a huge family!! 

Wednesday, July 4

Happy Independence Day!!

We headed over to Nana's house first to say hi and get our room keys. I love Nana's house. It's so authentic!! We had to do the tradition of trying on Nana's hats and posing for pictures. Even Treyson tried them on this time...hehe!   After that, we got checked into Snow Gardens and hurried and unpacked so we could head the Manti Parade. It was so lovely out since the parade was held at night. The whether was just perfect. It was a short and sweet parade, very fun for the whole family. They even were throwing not just candy but macaroni and cheese and paper towels. How creative! Right after we headed over to the High School stadium to watch the fireworks. It was a long night but the boys really had fun and loved the fireworks!  

Thursday, July 5

Temple Morning. All the family were invited to attend the Temple. They needed Christian as a priesthood holder to help with baptisms for those ages12 through 18. This usually had been the traditional morning of doing an endowment session. Since this has left a babysitter gap, although they encouraged everyone to attend the temple if you could. They had other activities planned to stress the importance of temples.  The ones that had kids with children were supposed to share stories pertaining to the temple with preference to family history and tour the Manti Temple grounds. It actually happened to be raining really hard that day which was good for all the fires going on the in the west--we prayed for rain and we sure got it! Anyway, due to the rain we did not tour the grounds. I actually made a quick trip to Walmart while they were at the Temple. Long story short, Porter fell out of the cart and hit his head really hard. I had the whole store crowded around me and we made a pretty big scene with his loud crying. It was scary and sad. I left feeling like the Mother of the year, I turn my back for just a second and BOOM there is on the floor screaming his head off! I was really worried about him to say the least. 

Anyway, when we got home we had lunch and Porter seemed like he was OK but we still wanted to watch him. They had fun activities over in the Lounge of the apartments--pool, ping pong, ect. We played and visited over there for a while until the boys got tired. Porter was restless and exhausted by this time but we wanted to watch him close since he hit his head so hard. Christian fell asleep with him and then Kreed shortly joined them. I was going to go the activity center but with Kreed already wrapped up and down I did not feel like waking and battling with him there--plus I had his food so I have to be where he is always. Everyone else headed to the little rec center they had for swimming, wallyball, basketball, and all other sports that were at the activity center. It was nice to rest up since we still had a long night ahead of us.  We went to the Senior Citizens place for dinner and Missionary experiences from various families. While eating we got to hear all the updates of missionaries who are currently serving and a report from Kay and Diane (Grandpa Hals Brother) on their time in the Ukraine. After dinner we had a night full of GAMES for all ages. Of course we supervised while the boys played their games. It also rained horrible that night and we all got drenched trying to get back to our apartments...LOL!

Friday, July 6

Morning at the Farm. Dallen Christensen went  through quite a bit of effort to put together a Geo cashing activity around farm memories and fun. This was more for the older kids so Mom and Karlee took this on. I guess it was a lot of fun. We stayed back and played at the farm house. For those under the age of 8, they set up a craft booth with painting, coloring, ect. Granpa C. took Treyson "dinosaur exploring!" They had so much fun! We then had a good lunch at the farm and then headed home for a little down time. Porter crashed on the way back from the farm and Chris had a horrible headache he could not get rid of. The next activity was a hike up in Maple Canyon. Chris and I were bummed that he was not feeling good because we both wanted him to go. Also we could not just leave Porter sleeping by himself. Chris stayed back while I went on the hike and took Kreed. I was told that this hike was very baby friendly but it ended up being no so much. Even the other ones with babies were feeling the same. We survived though with a little cuts and bruises, but it was so awesome nonetheless. It was so gorgeous up there. We saw rock climbers which I was really jealous--I just love the outdoors. Kreed slept pretty much the whole time. Treyson was our little adventure seeker and just totally in his element there. He is his father son:) Tay took him up to the waterfall and hiked farther then I did. Mom and Dad decided to go further and I just stayed behind with some other family. It was really so awesome! My new favorite place is Maple Canyon!

 We ate dinner again at the Senior Citizen Center along with the auction. Proceeds from the auction always go to the Reuel and Vonda Scholarship at Snow College. I think its so awesome that they do this. During the auction to our surprise we found both our older boys playing in the mud puddle stream back behind the center. Go figure. They put on a dance that night for the family. This is the first time they have ever done this and it was pretty fun.  They said they wanted to do it so "the kids can see if their parents have a sense of rhythm." LOL. Treyson, Porter and Kreed all enjoyed the dance. I loved dancing with my boys especially my Biggest boy hubster! We got a chance to shake our groove thing to the beats of DJ Eric Christensen. Whoop Whoop! We went home and crashed after this....everyone was so tried!

 

On a side note... during the Auction Mom wanted me to take some senior pictures of Tay. Apparently she think I am great photographer. I only had my little point and shoot camera but we got some pretty good ones. Here is a sneak peek.... 

Saturday, July 7

Pinata and Kickball at the park. The kids had fun hitting the pinata and playing at the park while all the others played kickball. It was really really hot but relaxing at the same time. We ended with family prayer and then went and packed up the apartment to head home.

We had to do the tradition of getting ice cream at the famous Malt Shop right across from Nana's house...YUM! 

We ate our ice cream at Nana's and said our last goodbyes there.
This is all the Family that represent the Hal side 

What a fun experience. I am so glad that our break fell over the Family Reunion. 

Now its Adjourned until July 2014!!! 

Ogden/Logan Summer Trips

We took a couple of trips to Utah while we were on vacation. While Chris was still back in Iowa taking finals I went and visited his brother's and family since they were planning on leaving for their vacation soon. The cousins has not seen each other forever so I took a day and went up to Ogden. The kids had so much fun playing together. 

OGDEN

They loved the little automatic barbie jeep. 

And jumping on the tramp. 

 We took a break for lunch.

 Then they played some more. They could not get enough of the tree swing! 

 We did have some down time. Porter wore out fast. Then we really just hung around the house for a while. 

 Layna and Gavin could not get enough of their new cousin Kreed. They were so cute! 

 We attempted a little photo shoot with all the grand kids...key word attempted:) 

R-L--Porter, Treyson, Layna, Kreed, and Gavin.

We were missing the other Price cousins...Bill and Gingers kids, Paisley, McKoy, and Jagger.

 We decided to go to the park for dinner and get take out. It did not last long since the boys found the mud...go figure! 

 We went back and got cleaned up and Kreed was sure happy. I was teasing Uncle Tom and saying that he has as much hair as Kreed...LOL! 

 We ended with one last jump on the tramp and some Popsicles. 

 And a few more pictures

Layna took this one of Courtney and I. 

 LOGAN

We spent a week in Logan with Christian's Mom. With her schedule and ours we could only stay so long so we really packed a lot of stuff in our short stay and still did not get to do everything we wanted.

We love Logan Canyon and seeing the beauty made it really seem real how much we miss it there.  

We played at the park. 

Then made a good shopping trip to the good ole Lee's Market Place

Picked lots of stuff from Grandma Price's garden, especially rhubarb since its Christians favorite. 

 Kreed was one happy and spoiled baby of course! 

 Porter came down with a slight stomach bug so there was a day we stayed home and snuggles on the couch. Thank goodness for homeopathics!! 

 That night we found out that our very best friends were going to be leaving. Erin was leaving for girls camp the next morning so we had to go over and pay them a visit.
Audrey and Treyson were instant BFF's and it was so nice to finally meet Mrs. Ellie! Porter still was not feeling the greatest the the homeopathic starting to kick in. 

 We love the Druce family so much. Its been hard to be away from your best friends. I am so happy we got to spend a little time with them while we were in Logan. 

The next day Porter was 100% and so we headed to the Zoo. 

 The weather was perfect! 

 There was a little park right by the zoo so we played there for a while after. 

 We were craving some Aggie ice cream and who can go to Logan and not have the famous Aggie ice cream right? Super YUMMY!

The boys fell in love with what used to be their Dad's and brothers baby boy doll. His name is Joey and they sure were so cute with it! 

 The boys love their Grandma Price! 

 Grandma's back yard is so fun...

Sandbox

Dog to play with

Kreed loves to be outside! 

 Oh and the tire swing set. They played on that thing for hours! 

 We went and got snow cones since the boys were begging for them. It was sure hot enough too!

 We played at the park again and anytime there is water or mud or boys seem to find it. There was a little stream at one of the parks and the boys went dog wild playing in it. 

 Kreed just hung out in the stroller being his adorable self! 

We just had to get our favorite for a snack...Jamba Juice!! 

 Grandma Price sewed the boys super hero costumes. Superman and Batman. They were so fun to watch and hilarious. 

 Batman was the favorite of the two. 

 Treyson and Porter to the Rescue! 

Sure love these little super hero's of ours! 

 We put Kreed in little bunny ears and he thought it was pretty funny. He kept giggling which made us laugh too. So cute! 

 Our last day we headed to Bear Lake

It was so pretty despite the wind. The boys had a blast! 

 The water was crystal clear blue! 

 We got some sun and played in the sand. It was really relaxing! 

 The boys skipped rocks with Grandma. 

 Oscar (Beths dog) was in heaven bringing the boys his stick or should I say log. This is his way of saying that he is better than Jax...LOL! 

 Kreed slept the whole time. 

 And shortly after we left Porter followed. He was so tired! 

 We could not leave Bear Lake with out getting a famous raspberry shake! 

 Treyson could not leave with out feeding the horses. He love horses. 

Thats all folks from our trips to Utah!

Happy Hump Day!