Nauvoo Trip

Nauvoo 2009

We left Sunday night and drove straight through to Winter Quarters. We stayed there that night and toured the vistors center the next morning. The next night we stayed in Kansas City. Wednesday we visited Liberty Jail, Far West, Adam - Ondi -Ahman, and Hauns Mill. We staid in Nauvoo from Thursday through Sunday at the Hyrum Smith Farm. All 25 people fit comfortably and it was fun to have everyone in one house. In Nauvoo we visited shops, stores, and learned games and activities that the pioneer were involved in. Thursday morning we drove to Carthage Jail. That afternoon families kinda split up and did their own thing. We took our family to a little play that was put on in the Cultral Center by the missionaries. Friday was our temple day. We had a session at 8 a.m. for the adults and a baptism session at 6:30 p.m. for the youth. During the day we visited the gun smith shop, the bakery, and a home. Saturday morning we had a handcart pull scheduled. It was kinda drizzling rain, so we put on our hoodies and long pants and headed out. The trail they sent us on was completely muddy and we were all covered by the time we finished the first up and down hill. The trek was 2 miles and by the end Mattina and I were walking behind the cart train, and she told me that she would rather be in Disneyland than Nauvoo... (all summer we have been talking about our trip to Nauvoo with the same excitement that we did Disneyland last year, and I guess in her mind they were going to be similar, but handcarts in the rain and mud was NOT Disneyland in her mind:)
There are so many incredible memories from this trip. I really need to sit down and write them all down. I think that Matt and I have narrowed our favorite down to baptisms in the temple. We had 4 endowed males and 3 endowed females, they (the temple workers) showed us what needed to be done, and we basically did everything. The spirit was so strong and amazing there. The workers that did stay in the baptistry were full of stories and wisdom. It was also amazing to watch the fathers get to baptise thier teenage children. The spirit was incredible!
We staid in Omaha Sunday night and attempted to leave early Monday for our 14 hour drive that day. We were in a three car caravan entering the freeway and the middle car suddenly lost ALL power. We pulled over to the shoulder behind them and turned on our emergency flashers. So, there sat three cars holding 12 people on an on ramp that people were speeding onto during rush hour traffic. Matt and I sat and watched in horror as we had a million close calls where people noticed at the last second that we were there and moved over into the other lane... Heavenly Father was watching out for us! A miracle happened and they wiggled the right wire and regained power after just about an hour of fiddling. We were off and the car worked the rest of the day! It was a fantastic trip with many wonderful memories. We will treasure those forever. Now, we are packing like crazy, cleaning like crazy, and just plain going crazy:) Hopefully we will close the loans Monday and get the keys to our Syracuse home Wednesday. Life is BUSY!

We are having a BABY and it's a ....

BOY!!!!

Mattina went with Matt and I to the ultra sound yesterday. On the way in she and Matt were still debating boy or girl. When we got into the room Mattina told the technician that did our ultra sound that she wanted a girl. The Tech was very cute with her and said, "just think, if it's a boy you won't have to share your toys or clothes or makeup..."
The baby was curled up with his legs pulled up under his tummy so we got a good shot of his bottom and manly parts. Definanlty a boy:)
The tech wanted the baby to stretch out so she could get a better view of the heart, she tried to shake the baby into moving... Later Mattina told Grandma C. that the doctor "tickled our baby."
Back in the car Matt asked Mattina what we should name our new baby... she announced
"Franky" (That is the name of a character on a movie she saw recently:) Then she said that it was mommy's baby so she could name it. Sounds good to me:)

We have a week and a half until we have to be out of this house... I am finally feeling better, so we are going to box everything up like crazy the next few days and try and get a POD or storage unit to store it in. We are hoping to move alot next Wednesday - Friday and move into the new house Friday and Saturday... This is crazy... I can't imagine doing this very often.

Redfish Pictures

House Sold - Redfish Lake Cold - Being Sick Getting OLD!!!

The Big Christensen Reunion was set for the week after July 4th! Our family (Matt & I's) haven't been on the Redfish trip for four years so we were EXCITED! Monday night we got a call from a Realator with an offer on our house. Tuesday as we were driving to Idaho we counter offered. Wednesday morning at Redfish Lake, ID we recieved a call that they had accepted our offer. It was unusually cold at Redfish and we had loaded up the kids to go to the Nature Center to look around. As we pulled in the parking lot, my family all pulled up along side our car, we rolled down the windows and announced, "We are HOMELESS!" Yahoo's! and much celebration insuded!!! We found out the center was closed so we headed over to the lodge to look around. As we rolled up the window's and with a million thoughts and feelings running through our heads, Mattina from the back seat announced "I get to make new friends!" after a pause, Matt said "me too!" and I added my "me too." Jake didn't miss out on the moment and added "I too!"
This picture was taken on the dock there by the lodge. Our Cute Homeless family:)
The rest of the week was fun mixed with emotion. It was good that we were busy and couldn't be COMPLETELY overwhelemed ALL the time, just in quiet moments when it would hit us again. Wednesday and Thursday were cool with spurts of rain. Usually it's so so hot that the ice cold lake is delightful to be in. That's how Friday was - HOT and we loved it. We actually went tubing down the Salmon River for about an hour before hanging out on Redfish beach for the afternoon. The River was high and swift due to all the rain this year, it was fun not to hit our bottoms on the rocks as we tubed down... o.k. so Denise and I did hit a big rock that we couldn't manuvur our tubes around, but on low years you drag bottom for a while and we didn't:)
Saturday we headed home. And Monday I had a sore throat. Grrr. Tuesday a head cold. We had houses to look at and a house to pack, I can't be sick. Wednesday our friend Ben who had the same flu was better and I was not. By Friday I was sick sick and I knew I had a sinus infection, so to the doctor I went. Because I was 17 weeks pregnant and was pretty confident what it was, they gave me an antibiotic before the weekend! Yahoo righ? no. Monday I am still sick sick and now it's in my ears and I can't hear anything. Wednesday my Mom and Dad show up to help pack boxes and I head to the Doctor again. Since I'm pregnant and have now been sick for 10 days, she gives me a new antibiotic that you only take for 5 days. I should feel better in 24 - 48 hours. Yahoo right? no. It is now Friday, and I think my hearing is worse and I still cough and feel crummy. I am so SICK of being SICK!!! and it's not pregnant sick either, just a bug gone BAD.
We found a house in Syracuse on Wednesday evening. We put an offer in on Thursday morning. Matt called at noon today to say that they counter offered and he was excited to take it. I am so excited. It is a darling darling house. I am praying that there are friends there for our family to make, because we are having a difficult time leaving the neighborhood and friends here that we love, love, love. If you want to see pictures, you can go to utahrealestate.com and enter the mls # on the right side of 897480.
We have felt like Heavenly Father has been guiding our steps so far, so I guess we will keep moving our feet:) Love you all!!!

Girl or Boy???

So, we had our Doctor Appointment yesterday... and the little person was curled up in a ball and not moving much. The doctor sort of got a look, but decided that the baby had the cord between it's legs. So, the doctor kind of thought it might be a "he" because he thought he saw more than the cord, but told me to wait on my shopping:) SO - The big 20 week (half way done) ultra sound is supposed to be around August 4th.
It's been fun, the last week or so I have started to feel him/her moving. I think it's finally sinking in that this is for real. Yahoo! I am definantly not fitting in my clothes anymore, so this had better be real:)

Excited But Cautious

We are excited to announce we are expecting. We waited a little longer to announce this time, hoping that everything will be o.k. The little person is growing well, and should be here around December 20th.
I've been nervous to tell people, last time it was the very day that we told the ward that everything started to go bad. This time we made it to 13 weeks and all is well. They (who ever "they" are) say after the first trimester your odds are better for not losing the baby. So, I'm starting to believe that this is for real and get excited. Up til now I haven't been able to put my heart in this for fear it might get broken again.
Mattina is excited. Matt explained to her when we miscarried that the baby decided to wait for a while to come, so now it's on it's way she's excited. She's pretty sure it's a girl. She explained to Matt that it's a pattern. Girl-Boy-Girl-Boy Matt countered with the pattern Girl-Boy-Boy-Girl (no, we are not having twins, they just like to have a complete pattern as they debate the gender. We will hopefully find out boy or girl on June 30th:) Yahoo!