YOGI!!

I bought my first yoga mat yesterday. Or should I say Devin bought it for me. Regarldess, I got one. I have been doing yoga for a few months now. My favorite pose is the relaxation pose, but I am just learning and not very flexible at all anymore. I have decided that I would like to start doing it in my house. I have plenty o' room so why not. Anyway, so does anyone know of any good yoga dvd's? Chelise and Chenae I am sure you do. Right? And guys while I was looking online today I found this. ITSY BITSY YOGA: Poses to help your baby sleep longer, digest better, and grow stronger. Its totally for real. I am so going to have my children become yoga masters. Kids are so darn flexible I am sure they are great at it. Interesting.

MY BOO!!

So I know I have done way too many posts in the last few days, but today is Devy's 23rd birthday!! I cannot believe how dang young we are. When I think about all that we have accomplished this past year it just blows my mind. I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am to have Dev in my life. He knows it, but I want all of you to know it. Devin is my rock. I love him with all of my heart and more than anyone on this earth. I could not live without knowing that I am eternally bound to him through the covenants that we were able to make! There are a gillion reasons why I love Devin, but I am just going to try to name a few.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE GIRL!! LOVE YOU MORE!! HAVE A ROCKIN DAY MAUN!!

1. He makes me laugh like no one can. When we got married I started laughing in a way I had never laughed before. It is so silly and now I just laugh histerically all the time!!

2. He follows the Lord, and trusts the Lord in all things. Whenever I get discouraged, he reminds me that our lives are in the Lords hands and that he will not leave us ever. He loves our Father in Heaven and wants to do all that he can to be a witness of Christ. He loves sharing this wonderful gospel of Christ with others and wants us to go on missions together.

3. He loves me all the time. Even when I am a grouch-o he still loves me!

4. He is the stinking cutest boy in the entire world!!

5. He is very hard working and determined. When he decides he wants something he goes for it. He is so dang awesome in every way.

6. He has inspired me so much and strengthened me in many ways. He encourages me to be my best and has helped me to grow since the day that we started dating. I knew he was one of a kind and that I needed to be one of a kind as well.

7. He is the "MIRACLE CHILD". He finished college 1.5 years after he got home from his mission and worked full time the entire 1.5 years!! Miracle of Miracles!!

8. He is a good girl! Most of the time.

9. He really wants to be a daddy someday and he is sooo good with kids. It excites me so much to have our own family some day and see him raise them and take care of them.

10. His greatest desire in life is to make me happy. And you had better believe that he makes me happier than any other woman on earth!!

SLEEPING BEAUTIES

Countless times, Devin and I would laugh our heads off at the way the Christensen kids were sleeping at night. Here are just a few of the pictures displaying the insane ways they were able to sleep. One night we found Landon with his feet on the floor and his head on his mattress. As we were watching he fell off onto the floor and then just stayed asleep. What the?! But lots of times he would fall out and start screaming. Poor kid. Then another night he had just his legs hanging off the bed as if he were just too tired to get on any more and just fell asleep mid-climb. Nice. Tay was sleeping one night with his legs crossed and his hand under his chin. Very sophisticated. And Ky and Jake were little cuddle bugs. Cute kids!!

FRIDAY: Day 6 and SATURDAY: Day 7 aka The Last Day

Friday was a fun day. When I went to pick the kids up in Hibbard we got to see a few little baby kittens that were just starting to open their eyes. They were so cute! I wanted to put one in my pocket and just leave, but I refrained. I am a grown-up for pete's sake. When we got home we ate yummy TV dinners they were soo delicious! lol. The kids were really excited about them at least and Landon ate more than he had eaten all week long! We got some treats for our movie night and went to the park to have a pinecone war. It was awesome. I think Jacob won. When we got home, I put Landon to bed and we made popcorn and had our own movie theater night to watch ENCHANTED!! Devin was so cute and bought it for me cuz he knew I really wanted it. When I got it I told the kids not to watch it until we babysat so they were really excited to watch it. It was really fun and even though they had heard that it was scary, they really liked it and we had a lot of fun on our Enchanted evening.

Saturday was a very wild and busy day. We spent the morning cleaning and trying to figure out what we were going to do all day. Then Kylee went to a birthday party and the boys went to our house to clean up the yard. Then we packed everyone in the car for a trip to Idaho Falls. I learned a lot of important mommy things on that short trip.

1: Always bring extra clothes for the baby. Landon put his entire arm in ketchup and then wet through his diaper.

2: NEVER take four kids to the mall unless there is a play place and you have a goal in mind and they are interested in going there.

3: Being a mom is hard work, but it is DANG FUN!!

Our time with Ace and Michelles kids ended in a whirlwind and I can't believe that Devin and I were still awake when they got home at 12:15 Saturday night. We loved watching their kids and were so happy that they could go to Guate to visit Mom and Dad C.

THURSDAY: Day 5

Thursday Katie offered to keep the kids until bed time so that Doovin and I could go on a date. She is such a doll. I just love her. She is all for service and I don't think she even realizes how amazing she is at it. Plus she makes homemade bread. What a woman. Anyway, so we got to go on a date really quick to dinner and then to Deseret Book to have a look. There is a painting there that I really want, but it is a little pricey so we will see if I can get it someday. Well come to think of it there is a ton of stuff there that I want. It would be nice to be able to get everything there that I ever wanted.

TUESDAY: DAY 3 and WEDNESDAY: DAY 4

Tuesday and Wednesday we watched American Idol. Devin and I don't have cable or anything so we only ever watch movies. The Wyeths came over so it was fun too see how interested other people are in it. However, if I did have to pick someone it would of course be David Cook.

NOT!!! Go DAVID ARCHULETA!!! What a dreamboat. And did you know that he is on Wikipedia? You have really made it when you are in the online Encyclopedia Brittanica!!

Oh and did I mention that on Tuesday April 15 it snowed?! Never mind that it is April and warm everywhere on the planet except Antarctica. It snowed. And for the first time in my life, I said Oh well! to the snow and moved on with my day. Maybe I should have a babies so I can stop being such a baby myself?!

MONDAY: DAY 2

So Monday we were really excited to go to the Nature Park for FHE, but then the wind picked up all crazy like as usual and we told the children we would just stay in. It was only a trick however. Devin put the bikes in the van and picked up some pizza and I took the kids in the Accord blind-folded by their hoodies. (they were facing forward in this picture) It was awesome. They all got a little carsick, but they were excited to see the nature and the bikes. Way to go Ash and Dev!! We were bribing them to be good, but whatever works right? They were all terrified of the ducks which was even more hilarious. I wish I would have gotten it on video. It was great. We had a good family home evening and really enjoyed ourselves.

Hey Michelle its family night better take the phone off the hook!

SUNDAY: DAY 1

So Sunday night I woke up at about 3:30 to a crying baby. What the?! Totally not a dream. We woke up nightly sometimes more than once. Insane. I definitely missed my sleep, but we made it on time for church, all 7 of us, at 8:59. I was so proud. I told Michelle that I didn't know if we would really make it to church, which she didn't seem too excited about, but we did it! I wanted to take a picture to document the momentous event, and to prove it toMichelle, but I forgot about itAwesome. I don't think Chantel was thrilled when I woke her up, but I was all she had and so she puffed her lips and let me get her dressed. I am sure to spare my feelings she refrained from laughing out loud. Then Sunday afternoon, we took Chantel toLindseys where she was going to be staying for the rest of the week and took the kids to the new turfed intermural fields. It was way fun even in the intense Rexburg wind. Look how adorable "DON" is kicking the soccer ball around the field. What a stud!! And Jake played catch with me and then with Brady. Dev just ran around the whole time playing with everyone. He is going to be such an awesome Dad!! Oh and check out how gorgeous the temple is in the background even though there is a pole through the middle of it.

WE PARTYED!!!

So we survived a week of parenthood. Aaron and Michelle (Devins bro and wife) went to Guatemala to visit Devins parents for a few days. It was pretty nuts, but we had so much fun. At first I thought there was no way I could ever have kids, but I figured things out and realized that they will grow up with me and I am going to love being a mommy! Anyway, so we did a lot of fun things everday to try to keep the kids minds off of their parents being away. I am going to post a bit of all that we did so check it out!

IF YOUR LISTENING OHHHH!!!

We have been really lucky to have such consecutively awesome weekends!! Our good friends came up from Utah for the weekend and we went to the Jimmy Eat World and Paramore concert in Pocatello. It was soooo rad. KT, Brady and I had never been to a big concert before so we were all really excited. We decided to just sit up in the stands for the beginning of the show during Paramore to avoid all of the teeny boppers. It was so fun to just sit up in the crowd and hang out and then to be able to go on the floor to watch JEW. The bands were sooo good. I have liked JEW forever, like since I was a little girl in high school. KT and I used to make up our own songs to their tunes. I love them so it was so fun to see them live and like them even more. I felt like a child!! It was wicked!! We were super close to the stage and about got our ears blown out, but it was so much fun! Thanks to KT and Brady for coming up for the weekend right before the big move. We had so much fun with you guys!

At Conference Time

We had the chance to go to Utah over conference weekend to visit with friends and see my grandma one last time before she set off on her fourth mission to the Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic. It was a lot of fun to be with my family. Oh how I miss them. They are way too far away, luckily we will be together forever. I guess I can handle a little smidge of time apart. Anyway, we decided to take a day off of work to spend a little R&R time together. It was so wonderful. We went up to Park City on Friday and just spent the morning shopping and enjoying ourselves. We sort of forgot that the weather wasn't going to be super warm, but we had soo much fun! Of course we went to CAFE RIO, but Devin didn't appear to be that thrilled that we were there. WEIRDO!! We also were able to go to dinner at my cousins grandma's on Sunday after the last session of conference. While there, we found a wheelchair, a Peanut Butter M&M eating horse and other treasures. It was very magical. Conference was delightful except when the emergency alarm went on in the Joseph Smith Building towards the end of the Saturday Afternoon Session. We were evacuated so since it was nothing near warm we just decided to hop in the car and begin our SLC adventures. We had a wonderful weekend and especially enjoyed hearing the words of our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. He rocks the house and we are so excited to sustain and support him as our prophet, seer, and revelator. Conference was so wonderful and such a blessing to see the order of the church and how blessed our families are to be part of such an organization.

A LOVELY EASTER

Easter in the snow came and went. It was quiet and my usual traditions were not included with the day, but still we were able to have a lovely day. We were asked to speak in church and were able to speak on the Resurrection. It gave us a great chance to focus on the whole reason we celebrate Easter and the wonderful blessing of our Saviors life and death. How blessed we are to know that He lives and that through him we might live again. Devin gave an amazing talk on the promises that have been made to us through our Saviors resurrection. He was amazing and we got many compliments on our talks. It was a very proud moment for me. I had dreamt of being married and speaking in church for some time. :) ha ha. Anyway, so we were able to get up early to wrap up our talks and get ready and we sat at the table watching the sun rise. Then in the evening we got to go to Aaron and Michelles for dinner and then to color eggs and have our usual fun with their family. It is fun to see the traditions that our seperate families have and to think of how we might incorporate them into our own family. FUN!! Sorry about all the posts, I have kept forgetting and wanted to get a few done before we have a bunch going on in April. Enjoy and keep reading on for more updates! XOXO!

The Many Faces of "DON" Christensen

Getting Newer Every Day

We keep wanting to show you all pictures of our house since we have been doing so much work on it and so I finally took some pictures. They aren't the best, and it is way better in 3-D aka real life so we are waiting for all of you to pay us here in Rexy a visit. Besides, the weather is supposed to be continually getting better and better....maybe.

OUR BEDROOM

FRONT ROOM/FAMILY ROOM

VIEW FROM KITCHEN TO "SITTING ROOM"

VIEW FROM "SITTING ROOM" TO KITCHEN

DINING ROOM

My First EASY BAKE OVEN!!

Well folks my man was at it again, just improving our house 1 spray can at a time. As some of you may know when we moved into our house, we were blessed with brown appliances. They weren't brown because they were built into the cupboards. They were just brown. I mean you really can't even imagine what they looked like. I have no clue how old they are really. But I will tell you that the interior glass shelving has wheat painted on to accent and decorate. Beautiful right? So anyway, we talked about getting to appliances in order to update, but Dev, the genius, knew he could paint them and update the kitchen instantly for maybe $50 instead of the $100's we would have spent on new appliances. We are so lucky that all of the appliances work (except for the oven when I try to make bread, but maybe it is me and not actually the oven) and now they look just incredible and our kitchen looks like it got a facelift. AWESOME!!! Also I just wanted to show a pic of my first cookies that actually turned out deliciously. I am so excited. I have tried to make cookies several times, but have never really gotten it right. But this time it really worked out and I was so excited to share them with our friends and neighbors for family home evening! I actually made a ton of them so we were able to share with a lot of people. It was the best! Oh and in case you were wondering, we do have pink kitchen countertops. We will be donating them to anyone who wants them when we get a new counter so let us know ASAP cuz we will have a long waiting list.

ODE TO THE WEATHERMAN OF IDAHO!!

So the weather in Rexburg is absolutely impossible. I have learned to never trust the weather predicitons here, not because the weatherman cannot be trusted, but because the weather here absolutely cannot be trusted. Also, I think for the local weather, there are mostly girls doing all of the reporting so I guess the Weather Girls cant be trusted. These past two weeks have been the most absolutely ridiculous weather I have ever been in. I have been beside myself with grief day in and day out watching the extreme weather right before my eyes. My hopes of spring have been dashed daily with snow, wind, rain and hail. Tons of snow on Easter was certainly not a dream come true. My memories of California Easter seemed so vague, me in my little spring dress and white shoes. Had a been dressed for easter here, I would have lost my white shoes in the snow and frozen to death in my Spring Dress. Those lovely spring days of budding trees and greening grass seem to be just days of yesteryear. Gone are the birds in the trees, gone are the lovely spring walks, gone are the..... well lots of things that I would normally associate with April are gone. Oh but wait one thing still remains. The snow! So while I try to make the best of this continuing winter weather, one and all enjoy the warmth for me!!