Going Private

Our blog is going private! I want to keep you beauties as blog friends, so please leave me your email address so I can send you an invite. And if we're not blog friends but we are supposed to be, leave me your address. Don't you dare be coy with me. Just leave it!

P.S. And if your's is private, send me an invite already, dang it! :) meraboo at hotmail dot com. (Meraboo has been my dad's nickname for me my entire life, and yes I've had the same email address since I was 11).

P.P.S. I think I broke my toe the other day. I was outside with Olivia (my 4 year old neice) and Lucy and I was letting Olivia spray the grass with the hose and its big metal shower head attachment when she suddenly got bored with it and threw it to the ground with some decent force. She didn't mean to and actually didn't even realize she'd done it, but she threw it directly onto my second toe. Perfect aim. I immediately started jumping up and down on one foot, holding my toes, letting out guttural screams and trying SO, SO hard not to cry and swear. I did feel the tears welling, and that's embarrassing for an adult... the crying out of physical pain thing. They both stood there watching me, confused, and then Olivia said, "Are you alright?" with a hint of, "You're a weird aunt," in her voice. So I picked up the hose and started chasing after her with it, and tried my best to throw it at her. hahaha. That last part didn't happen.

Then, (it gets better) about two hours later, all of us went to Guru's for lunch and I grabbed a high chair for Lucy and started awkwardly lumbering across the entire restaurant with it. (Have you noticed high chairs are always located at the exact farthest point of place from you?) I finally reached my destination, and, huffing and puffing slammed the high chair down. ONTO MY SECOND TOE. Yes yes! One of the legs came crashing down, landing squarely on the same toe. I yelled out a hearty SONOFABIIII!!! and again started jumping up and down, trying not to cry. How you might ask, could one manage to inflict this chain of events to just one little toe? No other toes were touched in either case. What aim! What precision! Well it happened folks. It happened to my little second toe. The poor dear. Walked with a limp the rest of the day and days following. You'd think I broke my leg.

Now, don't you judge this little footie of mine. I'm in desperate need of a pedi. If you are judging, I know you are not a mother of tiny children. And if you're not a mother of tinies, you should probably offer to babysit, so I can get away for an hour and go get a pedi.

See why I have to go private? Stop judging me!! And leave me your email address. :)

Collard Family get-together

I'm feeling totally overwhelmed with this post and I'm barely getting started. I just don't have the energy to write about all that's been happening. We have been seriously busy. I know everyone says that. But they're all exaggerating. Because WE really HAVE been busy. Okay, maybe other people are busy too. But we're busier. Yes we are. Don't you argue with me.

Every time I sit down in peace and quiet (meaning all babies in house are slumbering) for more than 10 minutes, my eyes start to cross and I end up getting all surly and irritated because I hate the fighting sleep feeling more than anything. And then my husband comes in and tells me, "This blog post is going to be way too long! No one's going to read it!" So then I get even more irritated, and I have to bark something like, You think you know me!?? You don't even know me!! Then he tries to distract me more with, "Oh my gosh! This advertisement is for underwear called Booty Pop! It's a pair of panties with extra padding on the bum cheeks! haha!! You seriously need to look at this!" Either way, a surly mood is no mood to blog in, so by the time booty pop comes up, I'm usually shot and can't continue trying to post. That's a little of what's been happening every day this week. So the point is, I'm just throwing these pictures up here. I don't have a lot of time or energy to tell you about everything we've done, but it's been good!

A couple days after we got home from our week in St. George we headed up to my home town, Idaho Falls and spent a week there with my family. While I stayed behind in Idaho, my husband flew to Oklahoma and Denver on business. That's 4 days in a row of flights for him, because he met me back here in UT and the very next day we flew to Seattle. We got home Sunday from WA and Beth and the Kaakoush kiddies have been here and are here 'til Saturday. The party never ends! Don't be yealous!! Seriously though, Lucy's starting to break down a bit... A little too much late night party life and a little too many skipped naps introduces us to a very dangerous yet adorable psychopath. Actually, she really has held up like a champ considering all the hype. But she's teetering folks. Teetering...real close.

I didn't even unpack/repack suitcases between any of those trips. I've just been rotating the same outfits over and over again. And doing an occasional load of laundry. Very occasional. And doing my hair very occasionally, washing it much less.

First thing's first: Our week in Idaho. July 7-14th.

My mom managed to wrangle up this water slide to have in the back yard all week while all her grand babies were there staying. Who can just pull something like this together like a rabbit out of a hat? My mother. She was conducting some Craigs list business at a strangers house, (I believe smuggled lava rocks were involved) and noticed the slide all folded up in some corner. Then she had the gall to ask to borrow it. Then she convinced the owner to start up a business renting the thing out, telling him how much money he could be making on it. Only her. Thank heavens for my mommy. It was like cat nip.

Isaiah, Leah, Carson and Lucy. So much love.

Adults go to desperate measures to make little people laugh. Hip hip hooray for Meradith in pajamas dancing what I like to call "the crazy legs," for Leah. The worst part about this scene is the steely stare I was receiving in return for my moves. No appreciation. (P.S. Don't try to move like this at home. For a small price, I offer private dance lessons. But don't you dare try this without proper training.)

Here she is again.... still judging me.

We took a lot of sisters pictures, and this one is one of my favorites. Mostly because the angle makes Bethany's hand look ultra carnie.

We may or may not have seen Eclipse twice whilst together. And brother Abe may or may not have come along the second time. And he may or may not have told us after the movie that he was so excited while watching that he nearly phased right there in the theater and started slapping people and punching their popcorn out of their hands.

Have you been to Bear World close to Rexburg? We heard it was overrated but we beg to differ! We were not disappointed! Not one bit.

Would you not be FREAKING out of this was happening on top of your car? What are you supposed to do? I've never heard any kind of instruction given as to what to do when a bear climbs onto your car and scratches the crap out of the paint. I'm pretty sure these people inside the car were playing dead. I would have been. Probably was the only thing to save the paint job, too.

Unlike Lucy, Leah is no goat enthusiast. Complete and utter disdain. I sorta understand her dislike...that baby goat was challenging her the entire time. They can sniff out fear anywhere.

"It wasn't me. It was the goat."

Tautphaus Park picnic and zoo. And that is indeed how it's spelled. But you pronounce it, kew-an-is. Weird, I know.

Baby boy Carson. Love him. Love that he says my name, "Meadow-wif." Never change Cars baby, never change.

If my beloved insists on making faces like this when the camera comes out, I insist on showing the world. The four of us sat here continuing to hoover after the masses had cleared.

Not sure why I'm making this face, but I'm pretty sure I thought it would be sexy at the time. Ness thought the same about her face. I kinda look like Katinka Ingabogovinanana.

Nice action shot of brother Abe.

Even nicer action shots of mother, especially that frisbee whizzing right over her head. You should have seen her spike the football down and do her TD dance during the game of tackle football that broke out after ultimate frisbee. We had to put an end to it and disqualify her when she started doing the worm. Too much taunting, mom.

Love these sisters.

Love these sisters and that brother.

Cousins McKinley and Elyza

Cousins Lucia and Mr. Tumnus

First time we all got to go see Jesse's headstone together. Tears and closeness. I felt gratitude and heartbreak and an abundance of love.

Carson just kept saying, "This is where my daddy lives!" So excited to see his face. Can't wait to see that face again.

I love my family. Thanks for taking this pic, Tiff.

Love dat mommy

We took the kiddies down to the Greenbelt to feed the ducks one afternoon, and nearly got blown into the water. I almost forgot about that Eastern Idaho wind. We didn't take many pics. Vanessa looks like the fire starter in all of them with that crazy windblown mermaid hair of hers.

See what I mean?

Oh, and I have to include a few of this morsel. Scarlett is three months old today. Three months!! She is smiling and cooing up a storm and last Saturday she laughed for the first time. I was so overcome with jubilant emotion that I almost simultaneously headbutted the wall and punched Jason in the face. She is TOOOOOOOO much. Too much for words.

Stay tuned for Seattle pics, Lucy's birthday (this Friday) and much, much more folks! Prepare to have your minds blown!

Christensen Family Retreat 2010

The annual retreat has come and gone once again, and this years trip together did not let us down! One of the real highlights of the summer! This summer's week was spent in hot and sunny St. George. There was lots of rest and relaxation and fun in the sun. I think I showered twice all week! (Which was a real treat for me, because at home I maybe get in one shower per week.)

Event one: Let's start with the family pics.

Nice little pose in the front yard shade. Our favorite from this location (click to enlarge):

Nice little pose in the back yard shade. Our favorite from this location:

And my personal favorite of favorites: nice little pose in the back yard sun. In these pics, you really can't even tell that hot desert sun is beating directly into our pupils. And we were worried they wouldn't turn out: (This one should be perfect for the Christmas card).

Let's zoom in and take a closer look at some of the highlights:

A lonely misfit trying to find her place in the picture, in the world...

I like this father/son shot... with mom going in for a chin smack

Katie, Rachel and Ally: utter despair

Another from this location- this shot captured the sun coming close to actually melting Lucy...people don't know this about her and direct sunlight

No explanation necessary:

Again... no explanation necessary:

Phew! There you have it folks! Another successful Christensen family photo shoot!

Event two: The crack.

These next few were taken at a place known as "the crack." I opted to stay home and read while the others went and shuffled through a crack in the rock in 100 degree weather. I regretted my decision once I realized I was out of the "crack club". Especially when they started beating up the non-crack-clubbers.

Women of the wilderness:

Victory! Cathy came out of the crack a changed woman. And as you can see... Steve came out a changed man. For some bizarre reason, sliding through that crack caused him to shrink down to less than half the height of the man he was before. At least his body's still proportionate, but we're still trying to figure out what happened to the little tyke. Here they are standing next to each other after Steve climbed up on a rock.

Daddy-daughter date.

Trying to make a get-away. Don't you put grand theft auto past my daughter. Don't you dare.

Event 3: Tarzan at Tuacahn.

Don't know how Grandma and Wendy ever made it through the evening... but we somehow talked ourselves into leaving them with 7 kids ages 3 and under so we could escape and go see Tarzan at the Tuacahn amphitheater. That's right- SEVEN UNDER THREE. Included in that is 3 newbies who want to be held constantly, and these 4 little morsels:

They seem harmless enough but do not let them fool you. And do not turn your back on them, especially if they are gathered in 2 or more as displayed above. That means they are in hunt mode.

What Grandma and Wendy won't tell you, is that they poured benedryl into a few sippy cups as soon as we left in hopes of sedating the youngsters. Just look at the good stuff starting to set in... (not surprised that Lucy and Brinley got an extra dose or two).

And here we are at the theater! I still don't think he'd admit to this, but Jason was subconsciously trying to act like Tarzan all night long... trying to swing around on things, not speaking in full sentences. I think he was maybe a little jealous of his masculinity, and the fact that I was staring at him in a loin cloth for a good portion of the evening. (We all were, he was on stage). I'm pretty sure that's why he picked a fight with him after the show... pretended to reach out to shake his hand and ended up twisting him around and putting him in a double arm bar. Who's the real man, Tarzan? I pulled Jane's hair, too.

The costumes were awesome! However, this pic here below was so not worth it... I walked away with my entire right arm slathered up in gorilla back sweat.

Event 4: Jacob Hamblin pioneer home.

"Mom's good egg" is right. Heavenly girl.

This is when our stoic baby proclaimed, "This is the place, Grandpa! Change my diaper!"

Drinking fountain from 1867:

I will not hesitate to put many, many pictures of Scarlett up right in a row... she has started smiling these past couple of weeks. OH MY GOODNESS whole new level of scrumptiousness.

And don't forget plenty of pool time. Every day pool time.

Lucy wasn't so happy when she spotted a mirror and realized this is what she looks like in goggles. I had to tell her that no one looks good in them.

Aunt Cathy and Scarlett Marie- BBFF. Best birthday friends forever.

We did some other sight seeing in there but I'd be a negligent wife and mother if I spent any more time on this post. So for the road, here's one more pic of some adorable little stinkers. This is when we were visiting the oldest operating LDS chapel, right before Lucy started flipping the lights on and off while our tour guide missionary was giving us a his presentation.

and one more shot of our little family. I think the girls look alike in this one. Gotta love that Southern Utah! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa C!! We love this tradition!