Merry Christmas

Gifts

I recently came across this old picture. The first Christmas me and Ryan were dating he got me this surfboard (we lived in Hawaii at the time). I believe that was the year I gave him a bag of candy and a mix tape (thus starting my tradition of terrible gifts).

snow

We did manage to find some snow this winter. Like Logi's boots?

3D

We watched the first 5 minutes of the 3D pirate movie at Sea World a couple weeks ago. We made it past the floating map (which amazed the Gweener) and all the way until the cannon shot us in the face - Logan then screamed in terror and wouldn't stop crying. Worth it.

Halloween

So when Owen was born we had all sorts of help - our friends the Proctors watched Gwen and Logi so Ry could come to the hospital

Jen arrived the night he was born and helped a ton with dinners and the kids, and kept me company after I got home (oh and she celebrated her birthday with us too - probably the most low key 30th party ever)

Then my mom flew out for some quality time and more help. I had things prettttty good for a while there...

Fire Open House

I love our fire department. Their open house was awesome - the kids got to climb all over their firetrucks and ambulances, go for a ride in a small firetruck, see a helicopter land like 20 feet in front of them, run through a smoking house obstacle course and spray fire hoses at targets.



...and there was a bunny too. Did I mention the free hotdogs?

A firefighter asked Gwen what she should do if she found matches. Her answer - "play with them." Apparently safety isn't a big focus in our house.

Owen

Owen Lee Christensen

5 lbs 11 oz

September 14, 2011

Owen was born 4 weeks early and still managed to be the largest baby we've had yet. It was a pretty good feeling when my due date rolled around and instead of anticipating a visit to the hospital, I had a month old baby. It's a good thing too, because if my butt had gotten any bigger I would have had to buy even more stretchy pants (in addition to the stretchy pants I already had to purchase after outgrowing the ones I'd worn with the other two).

After I got home from the hospital Ryan told me that he was glad Owen came early because "we'd both gotten pretty tired of me being pregnant." Haha, I hadn't realized it had been so rough on him...

Ryan's Work Fair

The highlight of this fair for the kids was the face painting, for us (or maybe just me) it was the all-you-can-eat barbecue lunch...

Montana

Pics to Embarrass Logan

I've created a file in our photo library with the above title. Here is a peek...

He really can't help himself - he looks up to Gwen way too much.

Goodbye

Hello

oh, and Happy Independence Day

We had a really great 4th of July. Ryan's parents were here, so you know we ate well (we had barbecue twice that weekend; you know, for the troops, haha). Also, Coronado throws a nice 50's style celebration with a parade, concerts in the park and fireworks at night over the bay set to music. Made for quite the festive atmosphere around here.

Lots of pictures were taken, but I think that there was a fingerprint on my camera lens or something because they all have a weird, blurry glow.

We watched the parade in true white trash form: on our sheet-covered couch, parked at the curb.

Gwen found some cool big girls to hang around with who taught her to yell (somewhat obnoxiously) "honk your horn!" at every car and truck that passed by.
The fireworks didn't start until nine, which may as well be 2 in the morning for our kids who normally go to sleep at 7:30. Gwen looooved them.
Logan was able to enjoy them more after Ryan figured out that he needed his ears covered. If the hands were taken off the ears, Logi's little hands would find his and place them back over said ears. It was a cute enough gesture to make up for his general bad attitude that evening.

Back to the River

Ryan took Friday off a couple weeks ago so we could spend a long weekend at Lindsay and Randall's river house. This is the third summer in a row we have spent time there and it is soooooo fun.
The kids had lots to do like checking out the water,

and throwing rocks (probably the most popular kid activity).
Ryan and the big people (except for big, fat, pregnant me) spent a lot of time wake-boarding and wake-surfing.
We also got to ride around on pretty much every kind of recreational vehicle imaginable.
Ryan took the kids out one at a time on a jetski. He even let Gwen drive and said they were going like 60mph the whole time because she didn't know how to let off the gas.