Elle's Baptism

It's GREAT to be 8! It was honestly so sureal for me to be planning one of my childrens Baptism. I swear she was just 2!!! It was so fun teaching Elle about the importance of Baptism and about the Holy Ghost and watching her enthusiam for it and the anticipation she had for months leading up to her baptism date. She was so excited and was constantly counting down the days. Jamie took the most amazing pictures of her in her Baptism dress at the Salt Lake Temple which was her choice. I bought her dress over a year before because the second I saw it I KNEW it was the one...it looked just like HER. She looked so beautiful in it and just beamed the whole day. We had a little "bow" fiasco so I had to hurry and put together a clip for her hair right before pictures and I ended up LOVING how it turned out. We were so blessed to have our family and close friends come to support us INCLUDING Tory and Janie who so graciously drove out to be with us and Elle. We sure love having them come visit. We really let Elle help pick the program and she wanted the Grandmas to say the prayers and the Grandpas to speak. Since Todd wasn't feel well enough Josh stepped in and gave a great talk on Baptism and my Dad, Grandpa Greg spoke on the Holy Ghost. Inbetween Elle and Cash sang the most adorable duet of "When I am Baptised." They melted my heart. I honestly couldn't keep back the tears throughout the whole thing. What a testimony builder days like this are. It was one of the most rewarding days I have had of being a mother I can remember. To see you children make such positive choices an be surrounded my people that love you so much...it's incredible and I feel so blessed. We had a wonderful luncheon after with the help of all those same people and that evening we were able to just be with Tory and Janie and their little family. I can't tell you what it does to my heart to see Cash and Ayson play together. I LOVE it so much. It was a wonderful day full of memories I will never forget and I hope Elle won't either. I made a little book for her full of pictures, poems, and notes from all that came to her baptism and left a place for her to write down her thoughts and feelings which she did a day or two later so I hope that helps. Once again...a very special day for a very special little girl.

Tates Double Surgery

Don't ask me what it is about my boys for some reason or another they all seem to have issues with hernias and other boy stuff. I'll go ahead and blame that on the Christensen genes;) Little Taters had two issues that had to be corrected with surgery and his doctors really thought it'd be best if he addressed it before he turned one. So we tried to find the most open weeksend we had and we went for it. It was kind of nice to have Toby doing his work in that hospital that morning so he when he was done he just headed right upstairs to be with me. Honestly I feel like Tate did a lot better than I remember Cash doing with his surgery at 11 months old. It really felt like deja vu. Both smiled away right before the surgery and both looked so much alike in my arms coming out of anesthesia. That was the scary part for me. That and not being able to feed him from midnight on until the surgery. Tate had a little bit of a reaction to some of the medication that they gave him during the surgeries so that caused a little bit of panic...his face went really really red and around his eyes mouth and nose he was white...but it didn't last long and he did really well. When they let me go back to get him he was crying a bit but looked right at me and as I took him he calmed right down and snuggled into my arms. My heart was full. That night he mostly just layed in my arms and didn't move much and of course he slept with us in our bed but after that he really started to just turned into his same old crazy tater-bottoms self again and went on his merry way. So grateful that Toby hold the priesthood and was able to give him a blessing before heading to the hospital and for modern medicine that makes it so my boys can be healthy and strong. My friend Lindsay came by the next day to give him a little book as a get well gift and honestly it made my day watching him look and it and laugh again. The pictures I caught are hilarious. Cutest little 11 month old around in little hospital jammies for SURE!!!

Down Family Vacy to St.George

Don't know how we pulled off getting everyone there but we DID! All the Down's in St. George. And even though family vacations can be stressful and its hard to keep everyone happy I think for the most part it was a success. The kids had an absolute blast being together and swimming and I think the adults didn't mind each others company either:) Tate was a champ and the pool and would literally just hang in his stroller for HOURS while we layed out and swam. What a wonderful baby he is. On Sunday we were able to go to Sacrament meeting and to the St. George Temple. The sun was shining so bright that Cash really struggled with pictures but we managed to get a couple good ones. Love this family of mine.

Elle's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Partaayyy!!!

Happy Happy Birthday to my beautiful 8 year old daughter!!! Where did the time go?? I am so grateful for this little girl...she's SOOO incredible. She gotten woken up to the traditional Balloons on the ceiling and breakfast in bed and then for lunch Cash and I surprised her and showed up at her school to eat with her. She knew she wanted an "Audrey Hepburn" themed birthday Party so we'd been planning it for a while buying fun things here and there. Most the decorations I already had seeing as how I LOVE her. Each of the girls got a fun bag with Audrey on it and filled with sunglasses, pearls, tiaras, and of course a tiffany blue box with a diamond ring in it:) They also got to adopt a cat just like she did in the show. We did updo's on all the girls and took individual shots of them as well as the most darling group shot. The girls enjoyed a fun "breakfast" full of pastries, fruits, and tiffany blue punch. Honestly it was such a fun little party to plan and Elle was on cloud nine which made everything 100% worth it. What would I do without my darling daughter?? She is one of kind and we all love her to pieces.

We're A ZOO!!!

My friend Lindsay called up and said she got a zoo pass that could get up to 10 kids in free so a bunch of us all got together with all THIRTEEN kids and headed to the zoo. We LOOKED like a ZOO! But it was oh so much fun:) It was Tate's first time and I LOVED watching his little face. They sure have made some awesome improvements there. The polar bear exhibit was incredible. My kids had an absolute blast and Tate was more than an angel. He sat in that stroller for FOUR straight hours without making a peep. Just smiled and smiled away. I LOVE him. We had quick the crew. So love being with my best friends and their kids. They're wonderful.