Dan at Day Camp

Dan is always aware of a camera!

Travis' Happy Birthday

Travis, who is married to our lovely Trisa, had his birthday ten days after Connor. They don't live here and so, sadly, I don't really know what they did to celebrate the day. I texted him a happy birthday, and he texted me a happy birthday in return.  I told him I'd remember in September. Then we exchanged some random pictures because we like to do that.

I had to steal these pictures from Trisa's facebook post since Travis is very good at avoiding actually looking at a camera.
It doesn't help that my phone takes about 30 seconds to actually snap a picture once I push the button and that gives him way too much time to notice me and dodge!

Travis is a good son-in-law.  Whenever we go to visit, he and Trisa spoil us.  Then, when he comes to visit us, he takes my kids on adventures, or plays games with them.  He has cleaned my carpets (to practice for his carpet cleaning business), and has even ended up cooking before!  We all (in our family) love Travis, and we all hope he had a happy birthday!

Connor's Happy Birthday

Connor had his birthday on June 9th.  It was a happy day for him.  Tia and Kayli took him to lunch at Dairy Queen,

This is Connor and Tia at Dairy Queen.  It was already posted on facebook by them, so it's okay to use it in my blog.

He got brownies for snack, and later sweet and sour chicken for dinner, both at his request.  His friends came by in the afternoon to drop by funny presents, and/or in the evening to have a fire and roast Startbursts. Connor is 17.

The picture of him actually blowing out the candles is really blurry -- but this one is happy!
Tia, Marshayla (an honorary Christensen), and Cousin Noelle (age 8), and Jake's
friend Tyler were also here for brownies -- except I couldn't get Noelle
to eat any.

Connor's friends brought him a present bag full of silly things they got at the dollar store.  He was pretty pleased with the hilarity of it all.  He is proudly holding his plunger and his marijuana test.  He got other "real" presents too.

Connor is a good son.  He gave a talk on Mother's Day and said lots of nice things about me.  I am very blessed to be his Mom.  I've enjoyed him since the first time I saw him screaming his lungs out on the way to the NICU.  I can hardly believe that the little boy who used to make car sounds while driving Christmas presents around is so grown up and is driving real cars around -- and has been for a while!  He is smart, artistic, athletic, and good at pretty much everything he tries(though he doesn't think so).  I love Connor!

Family and Freedom

After hiking the Y, the local extended family members gathered at The Homestead (Derek's parent's house) for a barbecue, and a Memorial Day program.  We do this pretty much every Memorial Day. We come together because we love each other, and because this is a chance to remember how blessed we are to live in this free country.  We are thankful for those who served, and continue to serve to preserve those freedoms, and we know that we need to do our part to keep them.

We are also thankful for our family members who lived before us, who worked hard, and who loved us well.  We have been blessed by them!  We go to our local cemetery to visit the graves of Derek's brother Alex, and Grandparents Christensen.  Always, on the way out, I look for my Great Uncle Don's grave and remember the blessing of having him in our ward (church congregation) before he passed away.  He was a bombardier on B-17 bombers during WWII.

Then we go to Santaquin's Cemetery and visit the graves of our beloved Grandparents Heelis (Derek's maternal grandparents).  And, this year we added a visit to Aunt June's grave.  She passed away this year and we can no longer go to her house to visit, and see the difficult puzzle she is working on, and have treats.  We love Aunt June!

I had a happy Memorial Day

I hope you did too.

I'll Never Do That Again!

One of my in shape, adventurous sisters-in-law arranged for a group of us to hike to the Y on Memorial Day morning.  I remembered thinking, after hiking the trail last time, that I would never do that again.  But I did.  The only reasons I made it were: 

1.  Derek stayed with me the whole time.  

2.  I packed a granola bar which gave me a boost of energy when I needed it.

3.  I was hiking back near my niece Tessa -- who is 3  -- and she said, "Let's run Mom!"  We were probably half way up, and I already wanted to be done.  I felt like a wimp and decided I'd better keep going!

That being said, I did have Kayli take a couple of pictures of me so that I could prove I made it, just in case I really follow through with my "I'll never do that again!" this time around.

Dan in the Spelling Bee

Dan in the 3rd Grade Spelling Bee

Dan was one of three students in his class that got to participate in the 3rd grade spelling bee.  There were nine participants total (3 third grade classes).  That was a nerve wracking thing to watch!  Dan was putting on a show for his mother.  He would spell words behind the other third graders backs -- not out loud but with exaggerated mouth movements.  He would jump dramatically down to the microphone.  He really couldn't sit still, and was constantly making sure I was watching him!

He did a good job.  I was impressed.  Our practices hadn't gone well.  When I practiced with him at school he missed almost every word and finally said, "Mom, can we just practice at home?"  When we practiced at home he got grumpy, and so we quit.  He does well if he concentrates, but sometimes he just doesn't want to do that.  He made it through about 6 rounds though (I don't know exactly how many). School ended before the spelling bee was over, so I never knew who won.  There were three girls left who just weren't missing any words.  I was proud of all of those kids.  I think that being in a spelling bee in front of all of your peers is really brave.

Temple Tour

On May 12th, before the Payson Temple was dedicated, our family (except Trisa, and Travis) went on the temple tour.  It was windy, and a bit rainy outside, but the temple was lovely.  As I walked through I had a strong feeling of gratitude.  The temple often affects me that way!  I am very thankful for the sealing power of the Priesthood, and the opportunity I have to be with my family forever.  I am thankful for our Savior, and the atonement He made so that we could repent, and become more like Him, and so that we can all be resurrected one day.  The temple makes me happy.

Dan and Jake did think we were a bit slow walking through.  They probably would have been done in half of the time -- but they were good, and Dan asked about the alter in the sealing room so I got to tell him about how people will get married there -- sealed for time and eternity.  Trisa came the day after we went through, and so Kayli and I went with her a different day.

Now our temple is dedicated, and I am looking forward to going inside again, this time to do temple work, and to feel again the peaceful feeling that is there.  I am thankful for temples.

New Puppet Shoes

A few years ago I posted pictures of my puppet shoes.  My sister-in-law Tonya, my son Connor and I had drawn pictures of my puppets, and some of my kids' puppets on plain white shoes.  Those are pretty worn out by now, and I wanted a new pair.  This time I did them all by myself, and put only my puppets, and a couple of Derek's puppets on my shoes.  My art skills aren't great, but I sure had fun making them!  I am pretty proud of my pig puppet picture!  Here you can see them for yourself!

The pig picture is on the back of the shoe pictured on the left.
It's not a very good angle for you to see my masterpiece -- but that's ok :-)

Derek's Happy Birthday

After our anniversary trip, but before our anniversary, was Derek's birthday.  Cinco de Mayo.  My brother Ray and his wife Lori stopped by on their way back from St. George and so they joined in the evening birthday festivities -- which really just consisted of dinner, dessert, and presents.  Here are the pictures.

Derek's favorite:  being surrounded by family -- especially his kids.

Ray and Lori (I have a knack for blurry pictures)

Guess how old he is :-)

A little dorky of my Derek, but Tia worked so hard on his "wrapping paper"!

I like that Jake is helping Derek blow out his two candles.

Just for the record, dinner was french bread pizzas (Mmmmm) and salad (so we could pretend to like healthy food).  Dessert was ginger cookies and homemade peach ice cream.  I had a particularly fun time wrapping Derek's presents in newspaper and plastic bags in an imitation of his style of wrapping. Derek is good at helping us all be happy, and we enjoyed celebrating his happy birthday with him.

Anniversary Trip

As of yesterday (May 11th) Derek and I have been married for 27 years.  We celebrated early this year by having an adventure in Southern Utah.  We hiked at Red Cliffs on the way to St. George, and went that night with my sister Jenny and my brother-in-law Jeff to the beautiful Tuacahn theater to laugh really hard at Brian Regan.  That was April 30th, and Brian Regan is a comedian and so he liked it that we were laughing.

Friday we went with my parents to visit my Aunt Vanda and Uncle Carl.  We got a tour of their beautiful home and yard and had a good visit with them, and then went to lunch.  My Dad loves the lunch deal at Dairy Queen and so we went there.  Free dessert!  I  would have enjoyed my ice cream better if they hadn't kept the restaurant at Arctic temperatures.  On the way back to my parent's house, Dad drove us to see their favorite golf course.  They don't golf, but they like the view!

St. George was hosting the Iron Man race that weekend, and so Friday night Derek's brother Quinn drove his wife, and us to Mesquite to eat at a buffet at a casino.  The food was really good, and the restaurant didn't smell nearly as bad as the casino itself.  The company was great.

Saturday we went to Cedar City and picked up Tia's stuff for her move back to the Provo area.  YAY!  It was a great weekend.  The only problem with it is that it wasn't a little longer.  Happy Anniversary to us!

Spring Break

The boys got a whole week off for Spring Break again this year.  Unfortunately, Derek had a Convention for work, and spent the week in Anaheim without us -- but he wasn't at Disneyland and so we had more fun.  We spent a lot of time just being at home, or off in the neighborhood with friends.  Jake and I had a Lord of the Rings marathon.  ***spoiler alert*** The good guys eventually won against all of those scary, creepy looking characters.

Uncle Jordan was in Anaheim at convention too and so Angela and her kids were good enough to have an adventure with us on Wednesday -- the cold day of spring break.  We went to Hang Time -- a room full of trampolines.  I have one picture, but it's so blurry it's not worth posting.  The kids did lots of awesome tricks, and Connor went on a hot streak with a basketball.  His dunks were great.

Thursday Angela and I ditched our kids and went out to dinner -- since there wasn't going to be date night with our husbands!  I suggested we go shopping and buy matching shirts, but we didn't do that.  It was nice to have some good company for the evening!

Finally, we had an adventure with cousins at the park on Friday (Angela and Megan's kids).  It was a really pretty day, and I managed to get two pictures -- both of Dan.  We all played tennis, Dan went on a bike ride on the bike trail, Connor played soccer, and Dan and Jake enjoyed some playground tag.

Spring break was after Preference, but before Jake's concert :-)  I forgot to mention that I found out about Jake's concert the day before it happened from his teacher.  We're working on that communication thing!

Jake's Orchestra Concert

Jake and his violin, ready to go home after the concert!
This was taken by Kayli.  I kept being impatient and taking blurry pictures.

Me (Sherie), Jake and Kayli -- a selfie on the way to find Derek and Dan

Preference

Everyone else has been posting pictures of Prom.  I'm behind.  Connor was asked to Preference by Natalie.  They didn't actually attend the dance, but their group had dinner and played some games and generally had fun.  She asked him by making a Panda cake with a note in it (Connor likes Panda Bears).  He had just had his wisdom teeth out and so the cake sat for quite a while before he got around to being able to eat it!