Wednesday, July 22, 2015

More Oklahoma

Shortly after the reunion ended, Brian went home to get back to work.  It was sad to see him leave, but I was able to stay with my parents and sisters about 10 extra days!  I was able to take some of the girls to frontier city one of the days I was there...
Great group! Spencer also came. He is taking the photo.
We had a good 5 hours at the theme park.  Alley got sick on one of the new rides. We rode it 3 times in a row and Alley came off looking a little green.  These two, however, had a party! They went a 4th time while we sat by Alley off the side of the ride...


Elizabeth and Katie
One can't resist going on the "pirate ship" ride! I assume everyone knows what ride that is.

Riding some ride that jostled me so hard, there wasn't any way I was going to ride a 2nd time

That weekend, I met up with Grant, Mark and their wives at a cabin near Arkansas for a weekend of boating.  It was so fun! It was definitely the highlight of my trip being there with them. Ryan and Carson were also there, and entertained us on the boats with the insane flips Ryan would attempt.  Everyone else got time to swim, surf, and sun tan though!

Leif and Grant Surfing

Roma taking a nap with Samantha

Maren and Leif about to jump in!!
The food that was cooked up at the cabin was so delicious! I can't believe how prepared Samantha, Maren, Jess (Ryan's wife) and Sam (Carson's wife) were for the trip! On Sunday, we all went to a small branch near the Grand Lake. It was kinda neat to be in a branch again.  It gets pretty informal during sacrament meeting. Ha!

On Monday, My mom hosted a baby shower for Samantha.  I was able to make this blanket for Samantha! It took a full 24 working hours to complete. Each flower took about 10 minutes! It was so worth it for Samantha though.


Oklahoma was a success! I left Oklahoma on the 25th of June with Shantelle! It was fun to drive the 17 hours to Utah with her.  We talked about her boyfriend Dakota most of the way, and sang the rest of the way! (This post is actually pretty late. Shantelle and Dakota are now engaged and will be married at the end of August).  She went on to see Kaylee up in Idaho for her wedding on the 27th of June.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Oklahoma Christensen Family Reunion

In June, I was able to go home to Oklahoma with Brian! We drove down one night after Brian's shift at the hospital. It was a long drive, as I was the one responsible for the night shift drive.  I had to drink a rockstar so I would stay awake! I drove from Wyoming at 11 pm to 8 am in Kansas.  Once I switched with Brian, I hit the pillow and slept for 2 straight hours. We took Mary Jean (My sister Cami's oldest girl) with us as a surprise! She slept in the back from Utah to Oklahoma, no joke! She was rocking it in the back seat.

When we got to Oklahoma, we had a great time with my parents and siblings.  Jennifer and Ben showed up a day after us, and we spent a lot of time at my parents community pool.  For Brian and my 5th anniversary, we asked all my siblings if they would like to go out for dinner.  Of course, almost all joined that were in the area.  It really made for a good time!  We went to Texas Roadhouse -- which is always excellent!

Brian and I went with Jennifer and Ben (and kids) to Mark and Samantha's house.  Grant and Maren were living with Mark and Samantha, so when we got there, we were greeted by Leif and Roma!  They were already in their swimming suits ready to party! We had an amazing lunch put on by Mark, Grant, and wives.  The hamburgers were delicious! We were able to invite Brian's brother, Sam over for lunch as well.  He is currently selling out in Oklahoma.  It was really awesome seeing him.  We then went on Grant and Mark's boat out on Lake Skiatook.  Lets just say.. Mark is a merciless tube-throwing maniac.  My neck was messed up for a week!  It was so fun though. They took us to a place to cliff jump, which was amazing.

Bennett and Leif in Mark and Samantha's pool! They had soo much fun

Cliff Jumping! This is Alley May

The Leif-Meister with me on the lake!
After the lake, Brian and I stayed with the Tulsa folks and went out to eat with the salesmen. It was nice to see sam again for a bit longer. they came back to Mark and Samantha's for games after.

The next day was the beginning of the reunion! We all gathered in Oklahoma City to start the reunion. Sunday, we had meetings at the church. Brian and I were in charge of 5-8 year olds.  We played "crack the egg" with them for our 30 minute class. It seriously was a blast.  That night, all the adults went to Kim and Aarons house for some quality conversation (QC as it were).  

The next day, we went to the church again where we played some games. Basketball, dodgeball, and even bouncing from one side of the gym to the other the fastest.  That afternoon, we went out to Barry and Carin's for dutch oven cooking and games.  The water games were a huge hit -- Literally!  They were launching those water balloons for my nephew's heads! There was a lot of volleyball played in their yard, and a crazy relay race that made a lot of people super dizzy!

The bouncing game!

I am pretty sure Bennett was in heaven for the whole time we were at Barry and Carins.  Come to think of it...I never saw him. Thats probably why I took a picture

They also had a magic carpet ride drug by the four wheeler! Scary...I know.
 That night, after delicious dutch oven, we had a cool meeting on the lawn in memory of my parents! They loved being "at their own funerals". ha!

The next day, we had morning exercise at the Piedmont high school track and field.  After, we went to the lake-land for the rest of the day. It was fun to watch everyone jet-ski! There was also a volleyball net set up out there, so we played a lot of games of volleyball!  I really love my family and am glad I got to spend time with them.  They are all really amazing.  Here is a picture to prove it.

The only 2 missing were Lyndon and Whitney - They are currently on missions.  
More to come of the Oklahoma adventures this summer :)


Saturday, July 18, 2015

Posterity

At the beginning of July, I went to the Christensen family reunion where my cousins Melodie and Rachel gave great lessons about Grandpa and Grandma Christensen. One thing that stood out to me during their lessons was that Grandpa and Grandma always wrote in their journals. Something that bothers me about journaling was actually addressed in one of their lessons: I don't want to bore my posterity! I want them to enjoy reading about my life! Grandma's journal though, mentions in almost every entry how she went and served in the temple, or how she saw this or that child/grandchild. I am sure as she wrote it she wondered who would bother to read her journals about her daily life - Boring!  No, not boring. It is amazing that she could teach us, even just from her journals just how important family and the temple was to her.
I actually flipped to Grandma's journal in July of 1989. She had an entry the day I was born, and the day after! Grandma put in her journal how my mom came and visited her, and that my mom was so uncomfortable and how she was very excited to have that baby.  The next day, she wrote something along the lines of "Virgil called me at 11:45 PM last night telling me they had a new baby girl!" It was underlined in red with a little more information about me. How cool is that?


This is the last picture I have of my Grandma Roma Christensen before she died.  I am glad I knew her and that I could read her journals at the Christensen reunion.  It definitely taught me the importance of keeping a journal for my future kids and grandkids. I will end with a couple more pictures of the reunion this year!

Riding with Uncle Mike on his Harley

Fun activities and homemade icecream

Gretchen, Shantelle, and me :)

Sleeping beauties (uncle Mike and Aaron)

And the end of reunion feast!