We've found a house!

It's just a rental, we want to be able to get to know the area a little before we buy. I am excited! It has a community pool, so I don't have to worry about maintaining one or worrying about the kids around it, it is in my cousins ward, so we will know someone, and it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, I think it will fit my re-finished table.....we move in on the 29th!!!

Moving

We have reserved the Budget truck, we have taken care of all the school paper work to transfer the kids schools, we have packed...oh- wait...we did that a year ago. But, we have no where to live...yet. I turned in an application and awaiting news. I hope to hear by monday if they will accept us or not. I hope so!

The house we have applied for is in a town called Celina. From what we hear, it is a good little town about 45 mins north of DFW. So we await the news...

Todd will be based out of Dallas, the question still remains when that will take effect, but all rumors have said that is will be sooner rather than later. I still think it's all a little surreal and I'm excited but a little nervous. We will be Texans before too long. CRAZY!

As usually I got out our Christmas cards, but probably spaced it on a few. I hope every one has a Merry Christmas! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I have been so grateful to have you all check up on me while Todd is gone and to offer to help with the kids! I love how this time of year makes me feel and the time we get to reflect on Christ and his life.

Much to be thankful for!

This Thanksgiving was full of reasons to be thankful. We love being with our family and love the good food! The day is all about eating, visiting, playing games, and remembering what this time of year is all about. We are so blessed to have so much family around for the holiday's.

A few things we are grateful for:

-Each other. We have some terrific boys and wouldn't trade them for anything

-Todd's new job. We are so glad that things are moving in the "right" direction and he is going to be doing what he has worked so hard for.

-For wonderful family that has supported us through all of the transitions and school. We wouldn't have made it anywhere with out them.

-For the gospel. We are blessed in so many ways for all that we have. Heavenly Father has watched out for us and guided us in so many ways. We feel His and the Saviors love in everything.

-For fantastic friends. We have been so blessed to have such great friends. We appreciate all the fun times we have with them.

Playing games with the cousins

Art & Craft time

More family

We weren't sure if Todd would be in town for the big family dinner on Thanksgiving day so we did our own "little" family dinner while we knew he was in town. It was a lot of fun. Nichole and I had fun making the place settings and I loved making these cute little pilgrim hats. btw: they were SO much work, but I guess it was worth it :-)

Teresa and the girls working on dinner

The kids playing games while waiting for dinner

Say "Cheese!"

The "adult" table :-)

the "not quiet adult, but we are bigger than little kid" table

This Thanksgiving was pretty great. It was nice to be able to celebrate with Todd's family. We aren't sure if we can get back for many Thanksgivings so this was great! Btw, did I mention Todd's little brother Justin got ENGAGED the day before Thanksgiving? We are so happy to welcome a soon-to-be sis-in-law to the family!

I didn't do much Black Friday shopping this year, but I did have a chance to go to Dallas with Todd for 5 days. I did some house hunting and I think we have narrowed it down to a couple of places. I am going to start on the process today.

Todd got Dallas as his base and we are hoping to hear today when is start date is for flying out of Dallas.

Dallas

I had a chance to fly down to Dallas with Todd the day after Thanksgiving. It was so nice. I was able to leave the kids with my fantastic family and stay with a wonderful cousin. I looked around at houses and have some good options. I still don't have the official "based out of Dallas" report yet....but things are still looking good.

It's good to be home. I missed my kids. Thanksgiving posts coming shortly!

A Walk in the Park...

Last Friday I was having a hard day. Todd had been gone almost a week, and the kids didn't have school. They were driving me crazy! I love my guys, but somedays feel a little overwhelming. I decided it was survival mode time. I bribed them to get their chores done with a promise of slushies and a couple of hours at the park. It worked. It saved my sanity... a little. We played for a couple of hours and they were super glad they got slushies. Nichole, her kids, Teresa and Kady joined us also. It felt good to get out of the house.

Tanner and Masen on the slide

TC (I think he is saying live long and prosper...)

Titus enjoying his drink while playing by the pond

Tobyn also enjoying the ducks...

Tate...I think the theme was ducks...

Later that day I ordered Chinese, had it delivered, cooked a couple of frozen pizza's for the kids, rented a Red Box for the kids and I read a good book 'till wee hours of the morning. It was good for me. Sometimes you do what ya gotta do. It's hard not having our own place, and space, but I am SO grateful for family that puts up with us and helps us out!

Jump-seat

Real quick before I tell my story about jump-seating, training is going well down in Dallas. I just got done with the first week that was indoc, basically the rules and regulation that the company follows. I would go to class for 8 hours and then go home and study for a couple of more. I have put in a bid for Dallas and hoping to find out soon if I get it, chances are good.

Okay now to my story about my first jump-seat experience. Jump-seating is something that airlines do for other pilots/flight attendants to help get them around. It's free for the flight crew to do and you can typically jump-seat on other airlines. I was scheduled to come home Monday after our first test to start a new computer based training program they are doing.

I got to the airport about an hour before my flight and discovered that they had changed the terminal on me. I had to run over to the other side of the airport to get there. I checked in for the standby list and the flight is over sold. I missed that flight and was hoping to get on the next one that left a couple hours later. There are two other guys in my class that are from SLC so we kind of have to fight over seats. One of them happened to get his name on the list first so he got on the first flight.

Our hope at this point is that we can get on the next flight but we're nervous because its over sold and there is 30 people on the standby list. We went and got some lunch and came back to find that the jump-seat was open. My friend was senior to me so he would technically get it. He was nice and let me have it because he had went home for the weekend. His plan was to try and jump on a Delta flight.

So I get the ticket and there is no group assignment to load so I waited for a little before I went and asked the clerk. She tells me that I can load any time I want. I get in line and go down and check in with the head flight attendant (FA) and tell her this is my first time jump-seating and I don't know what I'm doing. She tells me to put my luggage in the middle of the plane. I go put it down there and make my way back to the front (after standing and waiting for all the passengers).

After I make it back up to the front they tell me to go to the very back. I make my way to the back and introduce myself to the FA back there (he wasn't very nice). So I have now idea what I'm doing or where I'm supposed to sit. I proceed to just stand there in the back of the plane looking like a total idiot. I didn't know how to get the seat down. Finally one of the other FA came and got in the other seat and saw how he did it and figured out mine.

By this time we have been taxiing for a couple of minutes. I sit down and now I have to figure out how the stupid seatbelt worked. This other guy starts talking on the phone next to him and I can tell they are talking about me. He points to me and tell me to pick up the phone cause the captain wants to talk to me. I'm thinking that I'm in trouble because I have been standing around while we taxied.

I get on the phone and he asks me if I'm pilot or a FA. I tell him a pilot and he tells me that he is going to stop the plane and I need to come get in the cockpit with him. I was so flustered that I didn't comprehend what he said so I started to work on the seat belt. The mean FA comes back there and tells me I can't sit there because I'm a pilot not a FA. I get up and work my way back to the front while we are still taxiing. I could feel every eye in the plane burning a whole in my back. I start talking with the head FA and she felt bad because she didn't ask if I was a pilot or a FA.

The plane stops and they have to put a cart in the isle and one FA on each side of it while they open the cockpit door. I get in there and the captain proceeds to tell me that pilots and FA don't trade jump-seats all while sitting stopped in the middle of the runway. After the lecture I had to figure out how to work this stupid seat and seatbelt. Things went well after that. So that is my jump-seat story, most of you won't appreciate this story but my pilot friends will.

Todd's First Day

American Eagle Airlines, ERJ

Todd Started his training yesterday. He said things went really well. He is 10th oldest out of 23 students in his class, so that puts him at #10 for seniority. He is "based" out of Chicago flying the ERJ. He will continue with training in Dallas. He is still pretty optimistic that with as much movement as there is in the company he will get Dallas when he is done training. He says all the people in his class are really nice and funny thing is, 2 of the guys in the class are 2 guys he interviewed with at Colgan. Small world. He is excited about getting started. His roommate is another guy from Utah so that's kind of cool. I'm glad things are going and can't wait to continue to move forward.

We still feel like things are falling nicely into place and are SO grateful for that! The plans stays as-is right now, to move to TX between Christmas and New Years, but we'll keep updating for the newest news.

Happy Halloween and other updates!

Seems almost all of my posts lately are updates. We've had a busy month. We enjoyed moving...ok maybe not that so much but we did have a fun Halloween. The boys had fun trick-or-treating with friends. It was POORING rain while we tried to get our candy, but with friends and a car anything can be done! The kids loved being able to go up around my moms house and be with their friends, then we came back down to Teresa's and had fun hanging out with family. What a great night.

TC was an "assassin" (his idea not mine) Titus was Men In Black,

Tate was Spiderman, Tanner was a monster, and Tobyn (who happened to be a very sick little boy that night) was superman.

The end of October also brought the end of Flag Football. The boys had a lot of fun this year playing. It was all of their first times playing this sport. I think it was good for them and they all got to know the basics of the sport. Titus said he loved it. TC liked it but wants to do soccer again next year, and Tate loved it but wants to try baseball. So now we know :-)

TC's team

Titus's (and Todds) team.

Tate's team.

We are all settled into Todd's parents house where I will camp out until he gets back from training. He starts Nov. 8th and it will probably go 6-8 weeks. The plan is, right now, to wait for Todd to get done with training, and move at the end of December to Dallas. Things are looking good, but not official, for him getting Dallas sooner rather than later. We are super excited and still keep praying for things to work out.

He did it again...

Remember this nap.....
Well, he did it again. I swear I put him down for regular naps, but I guess when your tired you sleep.

Notice....

We are moving again, yes again. Call me crazy to move for (hopefully) only 8 weeks. Yes I know it is in a smaller space, yes I know I am leaving friends, yes I know all these things and more. The point is I feel like this will be a good move for my sanity. So....unless your willing pay the gas bill and the bill for my psychiatric treatment after having to take kids down to Provo everyday....and back for Tobyn....and back again....well you get the idea, this is how it's going to be.

Thanks Teresa and Clark for putting up with us for a while.

Just a frustrating day...I'm sure I'll get over it quickly.

At last....a JOB update!

TODD GOT THE AMERICAN EAGLE JOB!

We are SO excited! We don't know a ton of the details, but what we do know is he will fly in to Dallas this week and get a drug and hearing test done and, as of right now, he will start his training on Nov. 8th in Dallas.

I think the first day is when he will find out where he will be based out of. We are still really hoping for Dallas, for so many reasons, but the Lord has directed us this far so here we go...

A little side story. All through school Todd and I had many thoughts about either switching careers, moving to up the chances of jobs, or changing his degree. Any time we prayed about it we would get the feeling that we needed to just stick it out and do what we were doing until he graduates. It was frustrating, super frustrating. We knew there was something on the horizon but never could see what it was. Typical.

During the graduation ceremony Todd stood in line next to a man that was graduating in his same department. Todd got talking to him and discovered that this man was a recruiter for American Eagle (AE). Todd told him he was looking for a job and was really interested in that company. The man told Todd that he didn't have enough multi-engine time, and that AE was not flexible on that, but he would forward his resume' and keep in touch...

Time passed and we had pretty much written AE off. But one day Todd got an email from the guy that said "Get me your updated resume' ASAP they have lowered their minimums." Todd did...and the rest is history.

So funny answer to a prayer. Wait until graduation....graduation day is when Todd met recruiter...got job few months later. Prayers are answered and we are grateful. I have always known prayers are answered either in our way or the Lords way. We are just so grateful it is with a company we were hoping for!

I am a woman and I am beautiful

This post is a complete pep talk for my self. It is NOT hunting for compliments, more of a sole searching if you will. If you decide to read on, I hope it is a pep talk for you also.

I have a had several thoughts go through my head lately as I have had many conversation with friends, family, and others that have made me think. I need to get them out before I burst. I may wonder and ramble but I do have a point and I will get to it.

I often wonder, as many women do, if I am good enough. Am I pretty enough? Does my husband like what he sees? Am I skinny enough? Am I talented enough in the things I try to do? Am I a good enough hair dresser? Are my crafts as cute as the ones on the blog I saw or as good of a decorator as so and so...? Am I good mom? Along with those questions I have the questions that go with being the only child and revolve mostly having/being a sister. Will any one care for me like sisters care for each other? Will I be alone? Can I show the other women in my life how much I appreciate them?

These questions never seemed to be answered. I have heard all the talks in Conference, and other church meetings. I have read the scriptures and never can seem to make myself believe it. I have always been told that Utah is a special place, full of talented, beautiful, smart, wonderful moms. I feel "the pressure" to look and be as good as the rest of them. Not have what they have, but be what they are. As the prospect of moving has been on our mind I think "maybe I can escape that feeling where there are new people and I can start fresh in proving my self worthy"

But as I thought about all these things I think...there are going to be talented, skinny, beautiful, smart people where ever I go. The world is FULL of them! It is my pleasure to know many, many, many of them! And I am starting to realize that the "good enough" feeling is going to have to change from the inside out. I am starting to understand, in a very small way, what "they" mean. I need to remember that I am who I am. I am a woman, I am beautiful, I AM a daughter of God who loves me and knows me. I need to remind my self that my husband loves me. He tells me often, and he shows me all the time with the little things he does for me. I have a mom that loves me and shows me all the time. They think I am beautiful, not because I wear designer jeans or the latest fashion, but because I am me. I need to remind myself of that all the time! I need to quit seconded guessing my self. I may not be as good as everyone else, but I don't have to be. I don't need better or even as good as everyone else. I am who I am and thats OK. There is room for improvement, but there is in everybody. We all have things we are working on and that's OK.

Like I said before I have thought about sisters. What it means to be one, to have one. In the not so distant past, it used to bother me that I don't have one. I used to feel really alone in that aspect of my life. I watched my dear sister-in-law loose a baby and thought that maybe if I was her blood sister I could help her more or what I could do different to comfort her. I would wish I had a sister to call that would understand my problems that I am going through. I also have watched my mom over the years and see the loving way she comforts and talks to her siblings and what a great bond that is and be somewhat envious of that relationship. It sort of became a pity party for me.

But again thinking and reading and some "sole searching" I realized that I DO have sisters. My in-laws may not be blood related (and that is a really good thing or we would have some issues to work through) but I have been with them since I was 16 years old. I grew up with these wonderful girls. I have learned to lean on them, love them, sometimes even fight with them. I love them all. Kim, Heather, Jillynn and even Kady are all very much my sisters. We have our differences as do any sisters but I wouldn't trade any of them and they have helped me become who I am and willing (most of the time) put up with me. When Nichole married Nic, I realized I had gained another sister. I love her, we talk, we cry, we fight, and we play. She has listened to me, when I have had no one else to talk to. I realized that even though I am not her "sister" I did the best I could and can do to comfort her within the relationship that we have. Just because these "girls" are not blood related should not make me feel intimidated to help them and show them how much I appreciate them.

I am blessed to have the life I have and the people in it. I am glad that I have such a wonderful family. I love you all!

Football and Updates.

This has been our life for the past 2 weeks...and will be until the end of October...

TC's team doing awesome!

Titus's team.

Tate doing a super job!

That's right, 3 boys playing, 2 games a week (each), and at least 1-3 practices a week (each) combine with Scouts and piano lessons! I feel like Tuesday-Thursday we run around crazy and anyone that talks to me on the phone is probably listening to the wind while I stand at a game. It has also been cold this past week, but luckily the rain stops just long enough for the games. I have also been keeping up with Pampered Chef shows and fitting them inbetween all the football stuff. Oh-did I mention Todd is the coach for Titus's team? So he helps with the boys but it's still pretty nuts.

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining at ALL. In fact I am really enjoying it. The boys seem to be having a blast with it, and doing well in their games (not that it matter, it's all about having fun right?) Another plus to the whole deal is that TC and Titus's games, despite being at the same time, is that they are playing on neighboring fields. A lot of the time I can plant my self between the two fields and cheer for both! I know it will be crazy when the boys are ALL in sports, but I am actually kind of looking forward to cheering for all the Christensen Boyz.

I am still really enjoying doing Pampered Chef. I have had several shows. I enjoy the "girls" night out and meeting fun new people. I am always taking referrals so if you would like to do a show or know someone who would let me know.

We continue to wait on news from Todd's job. We both feel really good about it. The rumor is it takes a full 4 weeks to hear back and for a phone call to let him know when to get his drug test done. It will be 4 weeks on Monday, and 1 month on the 13th. Our fingers are crossed as we try to wait patiently. Hopefully my next post will be all about the job and a training date...

2010 Family Pics!

So about 1 week ago we had our family pictures taken. My cousin Julie so willingly took us on as a test shoot. I LOVE them! I debated for quite a while on what to wear, I had an idea to take them at an old metal factory with Clarks old Ford. Between the car, the color of the factory, my final choice of color, and Julie's wonderful skills, I think they turned out great!

I don't mean to brag, and all my kids are wonderfully cute, but I think this shot could win a baby contest or two ;-)

Todd and the boys, I couldn't find the one where Tobyn's face is hilarious, but this one is in close 2nd! He smiled so funny!

A beautiful shot of parts of the car. Again, she has a good eye for this sort of thing...

Another picture I LOVE,LOVE, LOVE! I love the whole scene! Just the way Todd is sitting with Tanner...it's just such a great "Dad" shot!

Todd and I

The whole family. I never can quite seem to get all the boys smiling nicely at the same time, but I love their personalities.

Our usual all boy shot. I think this one is just going to be a tradition...

My handsome bunch...I love these guys!

My wonderful mom

I wish I could just post the whole gallery. I think they are all wonderful. I can't wait to have some walls to hang them up on and update the boys individual pictures (those were pretty cute too if I say so) So much better than the yucky school pics (no offense to anyone who loves those!) Thanks again Julie, you did awesome!

Tobyn is 5!

Tobyn is finally 5! He was so excited for his birthday. He loved "helping" me with the cake. It was Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes. The Hessings came over to help us eat them all and sing happy birthday. I think my guy had a good birthday.

Cup Cakes...

Waiting patiently for his cake and singing happy birthday.

Tobyn opening his Fire Truck. He LOVES it! He also got clothes, money, a chalk board and a few other exciting things.

(Sorry, I don't know how to rotate the picture)

Tobyn is the one in the family to give you a big smile before he says anything else. He is awesome at ridding his bike and scooter. He is a lot of fun and we are so happy to have him a part of our family! We love you Tobyn!

Tobyn's School!

That's right, Tobyn started school! He was SO excited. He loves it so far. His teachers seem really awesome and good with the kids. Tobyn comes home worn out everyday, but I don't mind. It has given him something fun to do. It's a little strange only having one home in the mornings, but I am glad he is doing something he enjoys.

Happy Birthday TC!

TC had his birthday on the 8th! We can hardly believe our little boy is 11! He has grown so much and we can start to see the preteen-ness come into play. Yes, boys go through it too. He sits at the computer doing homework with his music playing, and sometimes he goes out to play and other days he hangs out.

Again, it was a quiet birthday. He got an awesome jacket, a tech-deck, and a new seepa (not sure on spelling, but it's a hackie-sack) Anyway, he seemed to love it all. The awesome Hi-def pictures show how excited he is!

On the Saturday after his bday we had a big family picture and then went over to Grandma C's to have pizza (Yay!) and cake and ice cream (double Yay!) He got a football, another jacket, some clothes and a sword. I think he had an awesome time there too.
We are so glad to have TC in our family. He for sure is the older brother by teasing, ordering and bossing, but he also has the great qualities of protecting, loving, watching, and example of being the oldest. We love you TC!!

Quick Update

This will be a quick update since I need to leave to get Todd from the airport in 15 min.

Today Todd had an interview with American Eagle. This is the job we REALLY want and are praying our wants and needs might meet on this one. The main base is in Dallas, where we REALLY want to be. We have several friends and a few relatives down in that area so it would be a nice place to live and establish some roots for our family.

The last I heard from him is that he got a letter of pre-employment, which means he has passed the interview thus far. Now the waiting game begins. He will have to wait to find out if he passes the background check...not too nervous about this one...and make it through the cut of the final hiring board....this is the part we are slightly nervous about, he made it this far with Colgan and got the denial letter 2 weeks later. But honestly we weren't all that surprised. Anyway...back to American Eagle. It can take up to a month for the process to finish. So hopefully I have fingers left by then and have not completely chewed them to bits with anticipation.

This was a quick update, and I am not sure if I got all the facts right. I will let Todd do more of a complete update and post his feelings on the whole things...so stay tuned.

Hiking

The boys and I have been talking all sumer about hiking up to Timp. On monday we finally made it up there. We got up at 5:30 to get up there. That wasn't early enough to beat the holiday crowd. My plan was to hike the Timpanokee trail up to the glacier, and do the top another day. We had to park about a mile from where the trail head started, because of all the people.

This is from the rim of the bowl looking down toward AF canyon, which is how far we made it.

We got started from the car about 7:30 and got to this spot in the bowl to eat lunch about 11:45. It was about 7 miles to this point.

Our view of Timp while we ate lunch. The far right side of the pic is the saddle that leads to the top. On the far left is where we would have to go for the glacier. I had only been up there one other time and didn't realize that this was a longer trail to where I wanted to go.

Crossing the "wiva." One of four times. (Tobyn)

This is when we first started, while thier still happy and don't know any better.

Titus was the pack leader, blazing the trail ahead of every one. TC was a pack-mule, carrying almost as much weight in his pack as me. Tate was the middle man making sure everyone was staying together. Tobyn was the mountain-mover, having to pick up every rock he passed.

We all had fun spending the day together. The boys were dead by the time we got done. On the way back we took a short-cut on a steep trail. TC and Titus made it down first and were waiting on the main trial, while I was helping the other two. Tobyn let go of my hand while I turned around to help Tate and started down the path. He was building speed fast, his legs had never moved so quick. There was no way he was going to stop before he ran off the other side of the main trail and down the rim of the bowl. I yelled to TC and Titus to catch him and they jumped into position just as Tobyn jumped down on his butt and stopped himself. He got up and ran back up to me crying that he almost ran off the mountain.

We didn't take anymore short cuts after that. Going at a 4 and 15/16 year old pace is not good for muscles that aren't used in baby steps. We vowed that next year we will come back and make it up to the top. Mom didn't come this time, she was having a fun time finishing her table.

Table!

In the beginning. Pre-sand (or just starting the sanding) It was pretty ugly. It had vinyl stuff that is supposed to look like finished wood. No one could understand why I didn't want to strip it and re-stain it, but that's not the look I am going for and for $50 I figure it's a good project.

The in-between stage. After sanding, before painting. This part took a lot of work! Found out the hard way that good 'ol hand sanding works the best.

It's done at last! I am so happy!

If you look at the top you can see the brush strokes. I tried really hard to have no lines, but without a sprayer it's just not possible. I also distrested it a little, but you can't see it on these amazing pictures. My mom and Grandpa had a hard time understanding why I spent so much time sanding and painting, just to sand it and make it look old. When you put it that way.....oh-well. I like it. I am SO excited to have it done!

Costs- $50 for the table and $75 for supplies to finish it. Total $125. Can't beat that! The next big project will be to add seating.