Cole's 8th B-day PARTY!

Well, on Friday we had Cole's 8th birthday party. His birthday isn't until the day before Halloween--but next week will be busy, so we did it a little early. He decided to take his friends to "Jumping Jack's" and then come home for cake and ice cream. He had a blast! He loves dinosaurs so we did dino cupcakes, the funnest part was when Zadie smashed the cookies for the "dirt". She felt so big and was sure that Cole would be excited when he came home from school and saw 'em. The plates and napkins as well as treat bags were all in dinosaurs too. He made sure I knew that next week I would have to make him a cake for the family party as well...because he thinks mom can do anything and everything.

Here are few pictures of the kids having a good time at the party!

Porter's Halloween Concert

Okay, this isn't the best picture (it was so DARK, and I am not the best with the camera anyhow) but I thought I would put up a picture of Porter's 6th grade Halloween concert. Last Thursday his choir sang and the orchestra and band performed as well. The kids all had a blast dressing up. Porter went as a retired football player (he's in crutches) and Yanik his buddy, wore an afro and went as a "Bling-age Man" as Porter calls him. Lots of bling-age; a gold tooth, gold chain and rings, lots of gold rings.

The boys both were forced to take choir by their moms because of thier lack of practicing when they were in the 5th grade band. They both insisted that they mouthed all the words! 6th grade Boys, ya gotta love 'em!

RAD KIDS graduation

Wednesday night was Cole's RAD kids graduation. It is a "personal enpowerment saftey education program" that they came and did at his school. It is a neat program where officers and trained teachers talk to kids about stranger danger, scary situations and some physical skills that kids can learn and use. They have been learning things weekly for almost two months.

Cole was excited to go--but we were about 10 min. late and so he threw a fit before he finally decided to go out and join the kids. I swear sometimes he is more emotional than my girls. I am glad he finally did. He was confronted by a stranger, attacked by the man in the red suit (a police officer) who actually grabbed him and picked him up, and by "Bob" a dummy that the kids were able to punch and kick. A neat program that might help kids stay safe in this ever changing world.

Karee on the mend.

This month we have been hit pretty hard by illness. Between Zadie's pnemonia and Nick's shoulder I thought we were done. Nope, Karee ended up with the stomach flu and a UTI. Not fun for mom or daughter. I am glad to report that all seems to be well at the Christensen household--at least for now. We are glad that Karee is feeling better and back to school and life as she knows it. Thanks to our sweet neighbor Randy who helped Nick give her a blessing and the after hours clinic here in town she is much better.

Zadie also had a follow up visit and the pnemonia is all gone. She recieved a flu shot and didn't even cry. She ran into the house and couldn't wait to tell daddy how brave she was! She now has two new stickers: "I got an x-ray" and a new one that says "I got a flu shot today". Let's hope this is it for a while!

No More Sling! Yea!

We went to the doctors on Friday and got some good news--no more sling! Nick is pretty excited to get rid of it. They were impressed by his range of motion and did a few tests, but the short of it all was that he will not have to have surgery and after a few weeks of physical therapy he will be back to normal. Or at least as normal as my sweet Nick gets!

The tendons that were stretched will heal as best as they can, but will never be quite the same. He still has to be very careful, and it will take a little while to fully heal, but we are truly grateful!

Nick's Shoulder--big toughie!

Hello there to one and all. If any of you have been following the family trauma that we had last weekend I am glad to say that things are a bit better. Here it is Tuesday and Nick is back at work! He is doing much better...but we still won't know for about 2 weeks weather or not he will need surgery.

I took him to a Sports Medicine Specialist on Monday. They didn't take any x-rays, he'll have to have some when he comes back in two weeks. The doctor said that the tears in the ligaments are rated from a 1 to 3 and Nick's is a late level 2 or early stage three tear. So for now it is just immobility and his arm in a sling to see if it will scar up in the right place. The nurse beat him up pretty bad--she had to use this stuff that was kind of like duct tape and press down on the shoulder that hurt to get it back into alignment. She then strapped the tape from the top of his shoulder to the middle of his back while pushing on it with all her weight. He didn't even flinch. But after the doctor and nurse left he laid his head down on the table there. I asked him if he was all right and he said, "I'm just going to need a minute here."

The doc prescribed some muscle relaxers (his neck and back muscles were spasming because of the extra strain) and he is actually taking them. She told him to take 800 mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day too. So far he will take only up to 2 a day; which is pretty good for a guy who just doesn't take pills---I mean EVER!

Thanks to all of you for your phone calls and prayers. Kim Pierce (the other councilor in the Bishopric) announced over the pulpit that he was conducting for Nick because he was in a motorcycle accident. I had so many people come and ask me how he's doing. Later Sunday night, Kim and Janet Pierece stopped by with a shake for Nick and just to see how he was. It is nice to have so many wonderful people who care and love us.

Well, he's on the mend. I will give updates when anything changes. He has still had very minimal pain--and if you ask me, it's NOT NORMAL. He's lucky to have such a high tolerance for pain. But he's a bit of a PAIN to me when it comes to persuading him to take what the doctor prescribed.

Side note:
The only time I thought I might see him cry was when he realized that he truly wouldn't be going on the 3 day Moab trip motorcycling that was scheduled for three weeks from now! Just kidding HONEY--I love you!

"Daddy's Paradise!"--Insta Care Visit #2 this week!

Well, this past week end Nick took the kids out to the Sheep pits (some farm land that we've got permission to 4 wheel on a few blocks away). This was the 1st time ever that he took all of the kids and not me. I stayed home because I was very tired and was suffering with some sinus problems. Nick and the kids were gone motorcycling for a few hours and returned shortly after I woke up from a little nap. Nick took his new motorcycle that he had been dying to ride. Well, to make a long story short--or at least try, Nick ended up wrecking his bike and hurting his shoulder.

On the way home (after struggling to load the trailer and bike) he warned the boys not to run into the house and tell mom that he got hurt until I could see him with my own eyes. Porter then said "Wouldn't it be funny to tell mom that dad was paralyzed?" Nick told the boys that that wouldn't be funny. The doorbell rang, I could tell it was the kids and went to open it. That is when Cole came inside yelling: "Dad is Paradise! Dad is Paradise". I thought that he was saying "That was Paradise" or something like that. It wasn't until later, after seeing Nick and hearing the whole story that I understood what Cole was trying to say.

I ended up taking my dear hubby to the Insta Care and he had 3 x-rays. We have to go to the Sports Medicine specialist to have more x-rays taken. He is pretty banged up. Some abrasions and his whole right side is quite sore. I wasn't too worried until Nick started going into shock. We both thought that his shoulder had been pulled out of socket, but it turns out that the soft tissue or rather the ligaments that connect the lower bones to his collar bone are either torn or severed. His collar bone is sitting a bit higher than it should, or at least that is what it looked like in the x-ray. If they are torn or pulled then he will just need time to heal. If they are severed then it is surgery for Nick.

He still hasn't taken the medication that the doctor prescribed, but he has take a few 800 mg ibuprofen. When I ask him about the pain--you know, on a scale from 1-10 he says it is only about a 2. He has always had a high pain tolerance. We will see the specialist hopefully tomorrow. The last thing the doctor said to Nick was that he was glad that wasn't his shoulder. Not so encouraging!

Insta Care Visit

Well, Monday morning I took our little Zadie in to the Insta Care. I had spent the last day and a half with her and her 99-102 fever. It would break with ibuprofen, but then would come back again. She had not other symptoms. No runny nose. No coughing. Nothing else. At least not until she went to bed. Then she started breathing a bit funny. I first thought that maybe she was congested, and that is why her breathing was so funny. What followed was a long night of high fevers, medicine and rocking in the recliner. I was kind of worried about her.

After she woke up she seemed fine. We said our good byes to grandma and grandpa as they went off to the MTC and she took a bath. The day went down hill form there...and I ended up taking her in to be seen. She had started complaining about a pain in the left side of her abdomen; that and the breating funny really got me nervous.

The doctor took a strep culture--it turned out negative. He had her do a urinalysis--it turned out negative. Then he had a chest x-ray taken. Negative too! Or so he thought. As I left and was told to just watch her and take her to the Emergency Room if she got worse the doctor told me that he was going to get a 2nd opinion from Radiology. They would call if anything was different.

10 min. later I get a call on my cell...it was PNEUMONIA! She doesn't even have a cough--but it is pneumonia. I am happy to report that she is doing MUCH better once she got a perscription. The next morning was like night and day! She looked great and had a good night's sleep. In 10 days I have to take her back in to have another chest x-ray and make sure it is all gone. I guess that is all--it is that time of year here in Utah. Bring on the Winter...I have my health care providers standing by!

Cute pictures of my kids!

Elder & Sister Christensen off to the MTC!

Well, Monday morning Jay and Bonnie left for the MTC! We are so proud of you both, Mom and Dad!

They are going to serve in West Virginia mission office for the next 18 months. We are grateful for their example and willingness to serve in God's kingdom here on Earth. They will be there a week before they drive out to their new place.

We received an e-mail last night that said they were there, had been studying hard and were doing well.

1001 Things it Means to be a Mom

I am blessed to have one sweet and very sensitive daughter, Karee. For my birthday she made me a cute sock puppet, a card, and then she spent her own money to buy me a book with the above title, "1001 Things it Means to be a Mom." As I read through it it made me laugh and sigh, and nod my head thinking to myself, "that is SO true!" I found a few I wanted to share here:

#1-"Being a mom means thinking you're the luckiest person in the world"
#16-"Being a mom means being willing to be disliked by your kids."
#76- "being a mom means developing "the look" that will stop misbehavior in its tracks."
#530-"Being a mom means being the only one in the family to believe combed hair is important."
#545-"Being a mom means standing on the sidelines cheering for your child even though you don't have the faintest concept of the rules of the game."
#676-"Being a mom means having the courage to be uncool, especially when it comes to curfews, parties, and fashions."
#701-"Being a mom means being able to relax only when everyone is in bed."
#990-"Being a mom means praying that you live long enough to watch your children grow up."
#1001- "being a mom means knowing childhood ends but motherhood never does."

Anyhow, it was a great little book that reminded me just how important my job is! Sometimes it is hard to remember that!

Here is Karee with her cousin Halle.

Andrea turns 34--Bring it on!

Okay, so I just had my 34th birthday and it wasn't so bad. I really have one great husband, he wouldn't let me lift a finger. We had company in town and he made the whole yummy dinner! He also tried to keep me and my kids happy when we went up Hobble Creek Canyon for our annual family pictures. Cole puked, Porter wasn't too happy about what I chose for him to wear, and the girls were terrific! Tiffany (Nick's little sister) was a great sport about the whole thing. She took some really awsome pictures under the circumstances...rainy, cold, grumpy kids, stressed out mom and trying to do all this in between the sessions of Sunday conference!(My heartfelt thanks to Aunt Tiffy and her hubby Josh!)

I wanted to put a few pictures up of Nick and I--maybe a bit corny, being that these aren't engagement photos--but as you can see, he still makes me laugh, even after almost 13 years. I am truly blessed!

Our Halloween Gallery

Halloween Decore & More!

Well, when October 1st rolls around my kids start begging to put up the Halloween decorations. Especially Cole, as he was born the day before Halloween. He really gets into it. I try to make a new craft each year for Halloween. Sometimes the kids help, sometimes I am on my own. This year my neighbor Annie and I made up Spider nests...a cheap, but messy & time consuming craft that we found in a magazine.

Take a look at some of our fun stuff. I really hate CREEPY sutff...but as you can see from my new pedicure --I really get into it!

Oh, yeah, we snapped a picture of Grandma Christensen getting her hair dyed while the guys were all at the Priesthood session--she might want to kill me when she finds out that I put this here...but it looked too Halloweenish not to include. I love you Bonnie!

New Additions to the family!

I just had to take these pictures and stick 'em up on my blog to tease my husband. Last Thursday he rushed off to Salt Lake to purchase yet another motorcycle.

I told his dad that he was spending an awful lot of time with Wife #2 (in red) and the newly acquired Wife #3 (in blue)--but as long as he remembers that Wife #1 is MOST important I guess we will have no problems!

He's actually starting with phase two of his fun little hobby, the collecting and tinkering phase. His favorite part is phase #1 to RIDE! He just doesn't get in as much riding time as he would like, especially with the cold weather upon us.

Conference Weekend

This past weekend we were blessed to listen to the important messages that conference had to offer. We also had a full house as Tana and her 3 kids were here. Tiffany and Josh came down too. Grandma & Grandpa Christensen were spending their last weekend with us (at least for the next 18 months)! We ate the traditional turnovers and had a great time. It was nice to be surrounded by family and listen to our Prophet and analize what we all need to improve upon.

Here's Uncle Josh giving his newly expectant wife a much deserved back rub!