Announcing baby boy Christensen

Seems like yesterday I threw a shower for my friend Angie.

Being pregnant with her first BOY was certainly a cause for celebration!

Mary made these darling party favors!

I assumed my baby shower role of organizing gifts and disposing of wrapping materials. I absolutely LOVE to organize, seriously!

Janel made this incredible cake.

With 5 young children Janel seems to find oodles of spare time to do

amazing things on a daily basis like sew Angie a baby quilt and other handmade gifts.

I have been sleeping with the phone by my bed the past few nights just in case our little guy decided to make an early appearance. It payed off.

Yesterday at 4:45am Ang called in labor. I headed over to care for her three girls

(best behaved children ever) and by 10:45a ish Cameron Richard Glen Christensen made his debut weighing in at 9lbs. 9oz almost three weeks early!

The girls enjoyed playing together during the day and after dinner I took Kelly, McKenna and Camille to the hospital to see their brother for the first time!

He is such a handsome lill' fellow. The girls were so sweet and thrilled to meet him.

So was I! They all took a turn holding their little brother.

We can tell that Cory is happy to finally have a baby BOY!

We are so happy for you guys!

You inspire me!

Dear Stephanie,

I've been thinking about your most recent blog post. Remember how you said:

"Oh! How important a strong body is.

Keep eating your 9-grain in the morning...seriously guys seriously."

I feed my kids oatmeal every other morning even though my oldest pouts almost

every oatmeal day (this is why every other day is a cereal day).

Below = Avery's lunch.

Remember when you posted the steaming bowl of steal cut oats with blackberries on top?

I still remember exactly what that picture looked like.

That was the day you inspired me to feed my family oatmeal

on a more regular basis.

Sunday's are our special breakfast days.

This week we made scones and added lots of powdered sugar on top.

We also LOVE sweet potato pancakes!



My version of pasta salad includes mostly veggies and spinach

with a few whole grain noodles.

I think this type of pasta salad would even be worthy of a NieNie label!

Aspen on the other hand has chosen to just stick with good 'ole breast milk for now.

She absolutely refuses any type solid food.

She has recently become quite fond on sucking on her two middle fingers.

I took this clip over a month ago...same reaction still.

YOU Stephanie are an inspiration to ME!

I'm not sure what Father's entire "big plan" is for you and your sweet family, but I do know that it continues to include inspiring countless people worldwide to stand taller, be better, have faith and recognize their blessings more each day.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us.

To be inspired by Stephanie click on the "NieNie" over on the right.

Little Peak

My brilliant brother-in-law Duane sent me a picture he had taken of Avery sitting at the old counters. I did not even think of post one of those as a before picture, but alas, I have MANY.

So here is what they looked like before...and here is what my delicious

Hootin' Anny pancakes look like fresh out of the oven!

New Kitchen Counters.

Out with the OLD

(Thanks for your help Dallin)

In with the NEW

Babe, I am really sorry but I think that I accidentally deleted the before pictures...

BAD LEAH.

How 'bout them counters!

Who knew that a new deep sink would make me feel excited to clean dishes!

What a wonder.

The grantie color is actually richer, but the camera flash lightens it.

The end.

Leah's Kitchen Creations

Confession:

When the two little girls go down for nap time I RELISH

my sacred peaceful lunch time moments.

Here is my new mid-day meal addiction for all to see.

* Any fresh or frozen fruit on hand.

* A handful of spinach (you will not taste it, just as my Mom promised me)

* Sometimes a little yogurt.

* One scoop Vanilla protein powder.

Healthy, tasty, oh so satisfying and quick when trying to get
2352146534 done while your kids are sleeping!

And after you have done your best to accomplish those 2345234 nap time "to do's," greeted the girls as they awoke, nursed your baby, read a few books to your toddler, changed some diapers, welcomed your school aged child home, provided a healthy snack to the children and listened to how "Alex gets Cheetos every day and I never get them" for the 97th time, kissed a few bo-bo's, broke up a few fights, insisted on a few time outs, wished you went to bed earlier the night before, folded the 3rd load of laundry, helped with homework, nursed the baby again and wished you had more hands.....

it's time to make dinner...

and because it is important to you to feed your family healthy foods you will then quickly saute up some fish a salad and fresh berries all the while doing your best to protect the baby from her toddler sister (she may be named Avery) who may just flush her down the toilet if not watched every single minute of every single day.

Love always and off to fold laundry,

One of countless mothers who love their families a lot!

Hocking Hills Part 2

Arian took tons (like 1000) great pictures on our trip including this one:

Some of the fun activities we did are captured below. Click on the collage to enlarge.

My Mom did a great recap of the trip.

Go HERE to see her blog!



The girls thoroughly enjoyed bonding with Kelty, Duane, Arian, Jill, Kenneth, Audrey and Grandma Ginger through dancing, games, hikes, hot tub time and manygreat meals!

Here is Brinley swinging high above the ground on a special rope swing

we found during a hike behind our cabin. She is quite the dare devil.



We loved having lots of Daddy time during the week.

His pager even took a vacation!

Avery wanted to swing just like her sister!



Kelty and Duane brought an assortment of craft supplies for us to each create individual flags which represented our family in some way. Then we had a show and tell time.

We celebrated Arian's 30th birthday with a

"Hats of To Arian" themed night including a number of cute tribute's. Grandma scanned and printed 30 pictures from Arian's childhood years which represented "different hats" he had worn and presented them in a story like fashion.

Jill brought hats for everyone to decorate and show off during our Hats off to Arian fashion show. She also brought Cat in the HAT certificates for each of us to write something we admire about Arian on. We brought 30 mini Hawaiian umbrella's which represented Arian's love of traveling. Kelty & Duane brought a variety of small gifts adding up to 30 which represented him in different ways. It was quite the celebration!

On the last day we took a hike to "Old Man's Cave." It was a beautiful mammoth rock overhang with a small winding pathway which lead to streams and waterfalls. Avery fell into one of the streams during her mandatory water play time, so she ended up in her birthday suite for the second half of the journey...so fitting for our Avery bug.

A BIG HUGE thank you to our family who made the trip out to us for this fun family vacation! We love you!

We're Back

A few days ago we returned from a fun filled family vacation.

We stayed in a beautiful cabin tucked neatly on the edge of a hillside at

Hocking Hills State Park.

One sunny afternoon we rented a pontoon boat and let the kids help steer the boat around a small lake. We docked successfully (thanks to Uncle Duane who jumped into the water to help) for a picnic lunch and some beach front fun with Aunt Kelty who was willing to plunge into the freezing water and get muddy with the children.

In the photo collage are also some picture of "kid bowling" as we call it a the Young's.

Daddy helps to build pyramid towers with plastic cups and then he slides "bowls" the children across the floor with a big push until they crash into the tower with gleeful giggles.

More pictures from the trip to come....