Can you say Clutz? I can, & I can show you what it means.

I'm such a clutz...I know it could happen to any one but still. I really wish I had an AWESOME story to go with this picture. You know, like, I totally did an awesome trick on my snowboard and biffed it hard, something along those lines. But, nope. I was simply walking back to the car after getting my hair done and stepped down to what I thought was going to be the street curb. Instead it was a drain.

Let me explain something just a little. Here in TX there is a slope down to the street not a drop off curb. And every so often there is a big drain with a steep down slope in to the drainage area. I hope that makes sense (pain killers are making me a little fuzzy). One of these drains is what I stepped into. I was standing one minute and hanging onto the door for dear life a second later.

Anyway. So from the way things looked I think when I stepped down my right ankle rolled toward the drain and I caught myself with my left foot which I think rolled also. Not sure though a little fuzzy on the details. You can't tell from the pictures and the wrap, but my ankle is huge and my toes slightly resemble fat sausages. lol

Good news: neither is broken. Just pretty ugly sprain on the right and a little bit lesser sprain on the left. With-in a couple of days I should be walking pretty good and feeling tons better. Also, the Dr. gave me a 3 day work release form. Think I can turn that in?

Bad news: I lost a pretty dang cute shoe down the drain and I don't think I'll get it back.

Men vs Women! (prt 2)

Read Todd's post first (see below) before reading this one.

Ok, so here is my take on things. It's true women do have a million wires that are running at all times. What is there NOT to think about? Kids schooling, homework, work, husbands job, hobbies, church, friends, ect. You get my idea. I really think if you sit down next to a women for long enough you can hear a slight humming noise coming from them. It is wonderful. It's why we are women and why we can do so many things is one day :-)

It's also true that men have a "nothing box" For whatever reason you can see it when a man enters his nothing box. I have seen it in Todd's eyes when he enters. He get a dazed relaxed look in his eyes and if you listen close enough you hear....yup, nothing.

I wouldn't change the difference for anything though. And if you get good at it, you can make the two work together. I think that's the trick to having a good marriage. There are times when I remind Todd to switch tracks or come out of his nothing box to help me for a while and he does this gladly. There are times when my wires are running so non stop I have a head ache and my tracks are so full they are going to over flow (usually it comes out in liquid form commonly known as tears) and all he has to do is transfer a little bit of his calmness and share is "nothing box" with me and the wires slow down just a little.

Ahh...so many things we have learned and yet still SO much more to go. Luv you babe!

Men vs Women!

This morning while cooking breakfast Connie asked me what I was thinking about. I answered with “nothing,” and she went off about how she doesn’t understand how I cannot be thinking about anything. We have had this conversation, men’s minds vs women’s, many times. After she asked me that, I started thinking about all the differences in men and women we’ve learned over our almost 12 years of marriage.

I am going to share some information that may be useful to those who read our blog (mostly women) about the differences of the two sexes. Connie and I watched a DVD that my parents had called, Laugh Your Way To a Better Marriage. I can’t remember the name of the Pastor who made it, but he is good.

Some of the Ideas that I share come form this Pastor and some are things that we have discovered on our own. First, you need to understand how our brains differ. Women have millions of wires that run throughout their entire though process. These wires touch, cross, and intersect all over the place. What does this mean? You women can have a million different thoughts at once, and can never be thinking about “nothing.” It does not compute with the way you think.

Men, on the other hand do not have wires, we have boxes. We have one box for every though we have. These boxes never touch, and we can only be in one box at a time. Men also have what is called the “nothing” box. That’s right, we have a box that is filled with absolutely nothing. It’s very easy for us to get into our nothing box, it’s HUGE! Probably the biggest box we have (next to the “intimate” box, just keeping it PG). I know it’s hard to understand, but we can think about “nothing”.

Another way to look at it is women have several mind tracks, I tell Connie she has at least 8, while men (myself included) only have one. The final insight I have is about intimacy. When it comes to being intimate with your spouse (share this with them because they may not have figured it out yet) women are like crock-pots and men are like microwaves. I won’t elaborate on this topic, just think about it.

I hope this helps shed some light on the ways we differ from each other. If it didn’t, I hope you had a good laugh. I’m sure after this is posted, Connie will post with her view on things.

Who knew?

Did you know that Texas has a pledge? Did you also know that the kids recite it every morning after the Pledge of Allegiance and before their moment of silence to remember our country?

Neither did I until my kids were talking about their morning routine at school.

Now you know....

T I M E

I feel like not only am I in a new state, but entering a new stage of life. I have 3 in full time school. Tobyn will be full time next year (TX does full time kindergarden) and my youngest will be 3 in a couple of days. I am no longer in the "baby making" stage. I have passed the "small baby taking all my time, sleep, energy, and trying to just stay on top of things" to the child-raising stage. It is strange. I am not pregnant or nursing. Tanner goes to nursery and feeds himself. It leaves me with 2 hands to get things done during the day and most days the energy to get it done. Which is both nice and a little scary.

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with my time. I think that will be my new year resolution. T I M E. I think I need to focus on What I am doing with my time.

Am I spending my time studying the scriptures daily?

Am I taking time to help those around me?

Am I using my time to teach the little ones?

Am I using time once a week to plan a FHE lesson?

The other part of that is that I would like to spend time to educate, expand, and discover who I am. For 10 years, my entire married life, I have spent caring for small children. I went from being Don and Carols daughter to Todd's wife to The Christensen Boys Mom, all wonderful titles that I cherish and love. I am honored to have each of those titles, but it leaves me thinking "Who am I?" Where does Connie Christensen, daughter, wife, mother, fit into the world. What can I do with my Time? I have more "Time" in some ways, than I did 2 years ago. I want to make a difference and find things that I enjoy. I want to do all the things I have listed above with my time as well as take a little time to discover my self.

Please don't get me wrong. I LOVE what I have become, what I have been, but I would like to keep discovering what I can do. I love my children, my husband, and all of my family and in no way trying to down play that important part of my life. My children will continue to take most of my time, and I enjoy that. I just want to take the time this year to look at my self. Take the time to stretch my self spiritually. To adjust and work on the new phases of my life that I am entering.

ps. I'll be honest. I'm a little disappointed not many have commented on my earlier post (see last post) You don't HAVE to repost the topic you can just comment to get something fun from me! (But only if you want...no pressure ;-) )

I need a project....

I found this on my friend's blog and thought it sounded like fun---hope you all agree!

I'm excited to see who the first 7 lucky ducks will be!

The first 7 to respond to this win something from me! But...you have to do this:

Repost this to your own blog and offer the same thing to your first 5 (but I decided to do 7) responders.The first 5 who repost it to their own blog will get something made by me! My choice. For you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make

2.What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year-no guarantees on when this year, but sometime in 2011!

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. the possibilities are endless.

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The first 7 people post this on their blog and leave a me comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun right?!? So let's PLAY!

- I need some projects so I'll just give away things to the first 7 to post a comment....but I really hope you repost and have some fun!

*PS Katy you did this a while ago (that's where I got the idea) and I didn't post a pic of what you sent me. It was magnets and they were really cute. Shhh....don't tell anyone I'm a slacker :-)

My family

I love my little family! I'm so thankful for the support they give me. As you know I recently got a job at American Eagle Airline, and dragged my family to Texas. Its been rough for me being away while at training being gone all the time, but its been worse, I think, on the family.

Connie is a trooper! She has stuck behind me through thick and thin, cool flights to awesome places that she couldn't go on, full time work and school, helping write papers, being a single parent, and putting up with ME (love you babe). She is now doing basically the same thing, minus the schooling on my part, by herself, in a new place, in a new state, and no family help. She is my better half, and keeps me on the straight and narrow. Thank you for all the hard work and support!

Each of the boys have made a lot of sacrifices as well. Being taken out of a school that they liked, ripped from the friends and family they love, time from they're dad, and moved to a new state. We have had a few break downs of home sickness. Its hard for them. We have tried to help them adjust the best we can. They have made some friends and its been hard to explain that most people here have different values here. We are doing the best we can to help them, and I'm thankful for their trust in Connie and I, even though they don't understand some times.

I love everyone of them so much and couldn't imagine life without them. Love you guys!

Per- requests

I've had a few requests for pictures of TX and the house. So for your viewing pleasure I present...our house....

The best part of the house, the view out the back. The sunsets are pretty amazing. I'll try to get a good shot of one some night.

The family room. Where we hang out a lot right now...especially since we've had sickies since we moved in. Blah. but looks like everyone is one the mend now.
The kitchen...just moving in remember....pardon the mess. But note the newly finished table and how well it fits!
The "den" see how much floor space there is? Perfect for an air-mattress for visitors!
Our room. Again, sorry about the mess.
Ironically the cleanest room and most organized in the house right now....the older boys room.
The younger boys room. Theirs is pretty organized to. Well, when all the toys are cleaned up that is.
So that's it folks. Besides the two bathrooms, anyway. I figured ya'll have seen bathrooms before ;-)

Misc. catch-up.

Some random pictures from December that I found on my camera. Sorry about how scratchy they are.

Todd and I Christmas Eve

Tanner having fun in the snow.

More of the kids having fun. They all loved that day with so much snow!

Tobyn at his school Christmas program. He sang so good and right on the front row!

Proudly displaying his reindeer antlers.

12 years

The first year after my dad passed away my mom and I looked back and said "I can't believe we survived the first year. Just barley, but we survived."

It's been 12 years. Holy cow. I still miss him. It doesn't ache like it did a few years ago, and time does help, but I will always miss him.

We remember in different ways each year. We don't have a set tradition, but we remember. I think that first year it was eating Hamburger Helper with my mom in mine and Todd's new (and 1st) apartment. TC was just little. Some years, when there is snow, we've made it over to the cemetery to build a snowman and just laugh and be together. Some years I take flowers. Other years, like this one it will be a phone call to my mom to tell her I love her and chin up for the day.

I can't believe how time fly's and passes at others, but it does and one day we will all be together again.

Love you dad. You have some awesome grandsons waiting to meet you. Kick them in the butt for me once and a while, and maybe their mom too, when she needs it ;-)

Connie

Happy New Year!

A new house, a new job, a new state, a new school (for the boys), new ward, NEW YEAR!

Man, I read back at my post of the New Year last year and it was a little depressing, but then I again, I was a little depressed. This year is different. The family (Todd's parents, my mom, and the 4 youngest of Todd's siblings) helped move us down here the 27th. It took 2 days of driving to get here, and one night in a hotel waiting for our contract to go through so we had a place to officially live. The process seemed to take forever. But we made it, in one piece, with all our stuff in one piece.

The family stayed and helped for a few days to unpack. We spent New Years Eve watching movies, and lamely yelling Happy New Year about 5 min after midnight. lol. But it was a great way to ring in the new year. I couldn't have asked for better people surrounding me (well some of the family was missing...I guess it would have been a little better with them around ;) ).

The house is awesome. It's kind of a diamond in the rough....or not so rough, maybe more like a lucky find. It is in a good little neighborhood, and the ward seems awesome! It takes a while to get anywhere worth going, like church, school, grocery store, but that's OK. I am working on not feeling too lonely, but have made it through my first couple of nights with Todd out of town and just the boys and I at home. I miss all my family and friends. I got a little used to having constant noise, but looking forward to our new adventure. I am having fun decorating it and making a house a home.

I am happy to be ringing in a new year this way and look forward to a great year! Our doors are always welcome to family and friends looking to come down and visit, or passing through, or here on business or whatever, we would love to have company any time.

Here is to a New Year and hoping it's a great one!!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas was wonderful this year! With moving the day after Christmas, I didn't get many pictures. Teresa is supposed to be email some so hopefully I can add more when I get them. We decided with moving, budget and just plain downsizing, to not get the kids a ton of presents. Todd and I had heard from a couple of places about doing only 3 gifts. That is how many the Savior received and we thought it sounded like a good idea to keep it that way.

The boys each got an outfit, a toy, and a book. They all seemed to like their presents and had fun playing with them all day. Titus got Nerf guns, TC got an ipod shuffle, Tate got a Kung-Zhu, Tanner got a Go, Deigo Go! truck, and Tobyn got a "Big" dump-truck. The hit was when Tobyn was given a Kung-Zhu pet (from the family exchange) to match Tates and they played all day.

I love Christmas, I love the feeling I get and I love being around family. I love remembering Christ and the meaning of Christmas! I especially loved being around the family this year because we are not sure if we will get back up there for Christmas this year.

I did manage to get a few Christmas Eve pictures, unfortunaly I cannot rotate one of them.

*ps these were taken in the newly finished basement of my Grandpas house (where we spent a year living)

A lot of my cousins and their families were back in town or have moved back to Utah from out of state and were there. It was nice to have a big variety of little ones to play parts in the Nativity.

My mom came down and spent the night with us at Todd's parents house. We woke up and Nic and Nichole came down to open presents with us. Even Justin and Kim were there. It was really nice to have the whole family there. Have I mentioned how great our family is?!

Let it SNOW

A few days before Christmas we woke up to this....

I was very happy to get a foot of snow before we left. It was very wet heavy snow, but it was snow. I love snow storms and the more the better! I think, besides the mountains, I will miss the snow the most.