my exciting weekend

I had a lovely thanksgiving. Mum, Dad, Dallin, Mckay, and I went to grandma fife's for the thanksgiving extravaganza. it was really nice. that night we went back home to spanish fork and watched we are marshall. i got up really early friday morning to take mum and dad to the airport. then i went to the gym, home to get ready for work, to the mall to get a suitcase, and then to work--i got there at 8:15. pretty productive morning i'd say. friday night i went to see the movie august rush with some friends. it was a pretty contrived plot, but the music was excellent and it was fun to see new york. saturday i went down to orem and went out to lunch with kari-lynn. we ended up eating at wingers and they had the byu/utah game on all the tvs. it was fun to hear everyone yell and cheer while they were eating. we had to leave when there were two minutes left in the game, and so we missed all of the action! but we went and saw the movie enchanted. it was extremely cheesy, but it was supposed to be so it was kind of fun. we laughed alot. then i took her back to her place and picked up mckay and went to spanish where we hung out with dal for awhile. it was fun. so i saw a lot of movies this weekend and it was really nice--i haven't seen a movie in the theater since hairspray a few months ago. and we all know how i like the movies :) have a good week everyone.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I went to the bishop's house. I went into downtown to pick up my friend's roommate. She is origionally from Poland. Her family immigrated to Canada and so she didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving. It was fun to talk to her about the differences between the US and the rest of the world. We had a fun time trying to find the bishop's house. He lives in a very ritzy neighborhood. We checked in with the security guard and thankfully he gave us a map of the place because we had the wrong address. We eventually found it and parked on a really steep hill. I was very concerned about my car staying put, especially since it wasn't my car(more about that later)! Well our bishop has a very nice house and his wife had everything ready to go. She is a fabulous cook. It was probably the best Thanksgiving food that I have had ( no offense to anyone!). They smoke their turkey. It gives it a great flavor. We stayed and talked and were able to take leftovers home. We tried to do some dishes but she shooed us a way and insisted that her guests don't do dishes. I got to know a few people in the ward better. I was grateful to have a place to go.
About my car. I was driving to stake conference and about halfway there I was stopped at a light. My car started to make noises and shake and then it just died. I put on my hazards and didn't know what to do. It wouldn't start. Some guys saw me and pulled over and pushed me out of the way. I have always been blessed when my car breaks down. Within minutes, some stranger is always there to help me. I had no idea why my car died so I checked my fluids and filled them up and tried starting it again. It was still shakey but it did start. I didn't know what to do or who to call so I walked the rest of the way to stake conference and figured I would see someone there that could help. It sure was fun to see all these families with little kids running around. I miss seeing the kids! My friend came to the next session so I got a ride with her to the hospital and then Bro. Massy, first counselor who is a mechanic, said he would come look at it. Well we got it to the shop and the Massys said I could borrow their car so I drove home with them and then took their car! It wasn't just any car either. It was a Lexus. I have always dreamed of having a Lexus. It is very nice. It will be hard to give it back! Cars are great fun aren't they!! I hope to have mine fixed the beginning of next week. So far I have paid more in repairs than I did for the car. Grrr.
I go to Urgent Care next week at the hospital. That is basically the emergency department. Yikes! I am nervous but so far everyone has had good experiences there. I can't believe I only have two more weeks of school. I am half way through the program. Yipee! I hope life is treating everyone well.
Love Kira

Thanksgiving at the TyandNats

This week I started back at school (I took time off with the birth of Sharon). I have too much work to do and it didn't help that there was a holiday this week. Dave, one of Natalie's brothers, came in to visit on Wednesday and stayed through Thanksgiving. On Thursday I spent the morning playing football in the rain and mud. In the afternoon we went to the Lees for Thanksgiving dinner and stayed and visited with them for some time. Mom and dad then came into town on Friday--they will be here all this week. Saturday we all went to the Barnhills to watch the BYU game. It's been nice visiting with family all week. Sharon is doing well--she's a pretty good sleeper but it a very noisy sleeper (she must have got that from Grandpa Christensen) so we aren't getting much sleep--never more than two or three hours at a time. Eli is a perfect big brother and has enjoyed having grandma and grandpa here spoiling him with attention.

What happened at Wolf Hollow

It was totally warm today which is so weird considering that we had snow in Oct. It is supposed to turn cold this next week. I have enjoyed the nice weather and went roller blading with your dad on Saturday. We went on the trail by the river. It is the first time your dad has gone on blades this year. It is good to be reminded how great it is when you are healthy and feeling good. We enjoyed having Dallin and Brooke Sunday and had buffalo steaks. According to Ken Hendrix you shouldn't poke the steak but rub a little oil over it and then steak rub. That is what I did and they were yummy. We bought some of the Wollenzien's buffalo and have enjoyed it. On Friday night, your dad gave blood at the Stake Center. Dallin had come home because he was going to do something with Tyler V. but then it fell through so he went shopping to the WalMart in Payson with us. He wanted to know why we went to Payson and after we shopped there, he agreed that there were much less people. There are much shorter lines. We are having pie night on Wed. Brooke, McKay and Dallin have picked a pie that they are going to make and I am going to have the ingredients and show them how to make it ...that would be pecan, peanut butter, and ice cream pies. Then they can have their fill of pie and take home the extras since Dad and I will be going to Indiana the day after Thanksgiving. Grandma might come and do it with us...she is still thinking about it. I have no pictures this week. I was going to take some of Dallin at his Ultimate game that he played so well in and the batteries went dead. ( This is some of what I wrote to Bryce. Since McKay set up automatic delivery to each of you when Bryce emails, you won't get what I wrote to him...try not to cry). We tried to finish our Christmas shopping on Sat. Then we went to BYU and while dad worked ( trying to finish lots before we leave for Indiana) I went to the bookstore and shopped and watched the football game. I just can't sigh enough when I go to BYU ...it is so full of happy memories and I like just being around all those students. We went to the Hawkes after Dallin and Brooke went home on Sunday and took a basket of things to thank him for recording Lola on the sax and one other song. Your dad is going to surprise Grand ma C. with it since Grandpa played it alot.

Sharon & Natalie update

Sharon has been wonderful this week. She eats and sleeps a lot. She also loves to sing. It's pretty funny... during her wakeful period each night (usually from 3-5 a.m.) she coos almost constantly--only occasionally breaking it up with a grunt. Then we change her diaper, feed her and she gets back to sleep. Eli is still doing well being the protective older brother. He enjoys showing her off to our many visitors. He and daddy have spent a lot of time together this week staying out of mommy's hair and have had a great time. We have video and more pictures up at www.tyandnat.com.

san francisco!

hello all! i uploaded my san fran photos to picassa if you'd like to see our adventures. http://picasaweb.google.com/christensen.brooke/SensationalSanFran it was quite the fun trip and we got to see a lot. for fhe tonight the high councilor assigned to our ward and his wife spoke to us. they were mission president in portugal and part of their mission included cape verde, west africa. it was fun to hear about some of their experiences. he shared a couple of stories with us of times when the spirit world has been made evident to us, and he shared the story in second kings, "they that be with us are more than they that are against us." it made me remember when dad shared that story when bryce was set apart as a missionary. it was a really neat meeting. hope everyone has a delightful week!

Sharon Elizabeth Christensen

Sharon was born at 9:34 a.m. She weighs 8 lbs. 8 oz. and is 21 inches.
Getting her here. Natalie had zero contractions this week and we were afraid that our baby might not come for quite some time. Also, I've had to adjust to carrying a cell phone to school and forgot a few days this week. On Thursday I emailed Nat with apologies for forgetting the phone and notified her that she could not go into labor that day because it would be difficult to contact me. In response she requested that I email our daughter to inform her when would be a convenient time for me so she could make the proper arrangements. I went ahead and did so requesting Friday (yesterday) because it was the anniversary of the Berlin wall coming down. The other thing holding her back was that months ago Natalie had made a master list of all the things we needed to get done before the baby came. Last night she informed me that the only thing we hadn't completed was rearranging the furniture in our bedroom. So I did that late Friday night. Saturday morning at 1:30 Nat's contractions started. She progress very quickly and we went to the hospital at 3:30. Things continued quickly and she was fully dialated by 9:00. She had to push twice (for a whopping total of three minutes) and the baby was out.
First impressions. She came out crying and cried off and on for the first hour and hasn't cried the rest of the day. She seems much more mello than Eli. She is very good natured and immediately responded positively to Natalie and my voices.



The name. We've been struggling to come up with a name we thought would work and decided to wait til she was born to settle upon one. As we've shared with others that we were considering the name Sharon there was a bit of pooh-poohing due to the fact that the name isn't current, trendy, or popular--and some people just don't like it. We do like it--especially because it's the name of Natalie's amazing aunt who passed away a few years ago from cancer. She was single up to the time of her death (in her 50s) and did so much for her family--spoiling her nieces and nephews with time and good memories. She is legend in the Barlow family and we love her and wanted our daughter to have a name with meaning.



Eli's reaction. He has done amazingly well. We were very nervous because he has been a baby hater these last few months... ever since he noticed that mom and dad were paying especial attention to the babies in our neighborhood. When I first brought him in this afternoon he went to her crib without prompting and kissed her on the forhead and said "she's cute." He was very excited to hold her and sit near her on the bed. When we came back this evening he continually went back to her crib simply to look at her. He hasn't shown any jealousy or animosity. He and I had a good time playing today and giving mom some sleep time.



Mom and Sharon are both doing amazingly well and would love to hear from or receive visits from friends and family any time. For more pictures go to: www.tyandnat.com/sharon.htm.

From the Mainland

Your dad and I went to a very yummy Catalyst Club dinner ( chemistry Dept.) on Friday and I sat next to a man that knew my dad from Utah State. That was fun to visit with him...he actually reminded me of my dad. We hurried off to American Fork for a viewing of Dad's 1st cousin, Herb's wife. They were on a mission in Armenia and his wife was getting headaches. They found 3 tumors on her brain and sent her home where she died not too long after. It was nice to see all his family there ( Herb's). We hurried off to Provo to see Dallin in his Ultimate Frisbee Tournament playoff and saw them win with some great moves from Dallin. It was a little chilly! We got up Saturday morning, went running, tried to figure out what we wanted to do and ended up frustrated because the tiller refused to be fixed, we couldn't find all the Christmas lights...did we throw them away or what ( we spent alot of time in the attic...oh boy, that place is scary) and ended up going to several stores and finding the cheapest lights at WalMart. We were happy to find BLUE strings...not available in years past. By that time it was getting dark and only two lines were strung. So we decided to celebrate our get nothing done day by watching a double header. We watched Meet the Robinsons and High School Musical. We wanted to know what all the deal with HS Musical was. Now we know...it was corny but fun. Maybe we'll learn all the songs so we can sing along version. Sunday was fun because Dallin came home for dinner ( we had left the Sunbird parked at BYU for him after the frisbee game) and went to the fireside at the East Stake Center with us. He saw friends and we saw kids from our old ward and from Institute so it was a great reunion. We also talked to Dilyah (Brooke's friend). We really enjoyed talking about the fireside and came home to answer T or F questions about the Holy Ghost. We learned some things. We dropped into bed happy to begin this new week. Tonight I meet my Redlands friends at the BYU Museum ( Minerva Tichert show) for a reunion and lesson of course. Hope you're enjoying the Halloween candy. Sister Voorhees bailed us out and gave us some which we gave to the boys. Hooray for the Voorhees.

Pie Night

So this weekend was the last of our busy weekends...
Friday. We needed to relax, this was our only night this week without planned appointments and activities. We checked out the movie "Meet the Robinsons" which was one of the best movies we've seen in a very long time (it encourages children to try and fail and keep moving forward), and watched it in our front room. What made it especially fun was that we collected all our pillows and cushions and piled them and then snuggled in together as a family--Eli loved having mom and dad watch an entire movie with him (and being able to stay up late).
Saturday. No run for me... I still have shin splints and am making a real effort to not do too much right now. We dropped Eli off and went to our home buyers class. We got out a little early and were able to watch halftime for the BYU game over at the Barnhills as well as the first drive of the second half before we picked Eli up and went home to prepared for pie night. Pie night was a real success--we did it at a park this year and had nearly 60 friends turn out. My favorite pie was either the pumpkin pecan or carameled apple. Eli had a great time playing with all his friends.
Sunday. We went to a missionary open house, had a friend over for dinner, and met with the missionaries. It's been a pretty relaxing day. Here are a few photos from the weekend and Halloween.

falling fruit

here it is, the lone picture from a halloween costume that i worked so hard on. too bad that the one time i got the fruit to work (i tried about 15 different ways of putting it together to get it to stay on my head), it fell apart after walking in to the big party. no one even got to see it! oh well, a good learning experience right? i found that without the fruit, people either thought i was a gypsy or carmen miranda--who i guess was kind of like the chiquita banana lady. i had fun nonetheless. i was a little exhausted from the san francisco trip (i'll post pics as soon as i get them from my friends--i couldn't get my camera to work on the trip) so i didn't last very long at the party, but it was fun to see all of the costumes and some friends that i haven't seen in awhile. but i sure am looking forward to resting this weekend. i got a really bad headache today at work so i came home early to go to bed. i'm hoping lots of sleep will help and i'll be able to clean and run errands tomorrow! i've got lots to catch up on. hope everyone has a great weekend!

Halloween

Here are some pictures from the institute Halloween dance. I am a girl from the fourties in case you couldn't tell!

This is the girls that are in the nursing program with me.

L to R: Kira, Elizabeth Tanner, Julie Palmer, Karen Godfrey

Halloween at the Old Folks

This is what we did for Halloween. We ate dinner ( chicken chili, Dallin's favorite corn bread, and Bryce's favorite cookies ...homemade oreos and we have some left for visitors) and then headed to the Spanish Fork River trail. We walked along and were surprised to see the leaves blown off the trail...whaaaa. We walked around the new areas that are in our stake and talked about what to do and saw lots of cute little trick or treaters. I went to Macey's in the morning and really enjoyed seeing many original ideas...like a girl dressed in a fancy pink dress looking like a wind up doll ( she had a crank in the back that wound around on it's own). No candy was consumed by us or handed out. Weird but true. We walked for about 1 1/2 hours and then went home to a very quiet house with memories of dumped out candy on the living room floor or Dallin saying why won't you let me go tricker treating????All the kids my age are doing it!

Ethanol info

Though ethanol can be produced from many common crops such as barley, potatoes, and wheat, it is most commonly produced using sugarcane, switchgrass, or corn.

Brazil, the world's largest producer of ethanol (4.35 billion U.S. gallons per year), produces ethanol from sugarcane. The United States, right behind Brazil in ethanol production (4.30 billion U.S. gallons per year), produces ethanol from corn. Sugarcane contains eight times more energy than corn.

Nearly all vehicles sold in the United States since the early 1980's can run normally on E10 fuel (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline). In fact, most gas stations pump E10 without consumers even realizing it. Most cars can run on E15 (15% ethanol) or even higher concentrations. Flex-fuel cars run on E85 (85% ethanol), straight gas, or nearly any fuel combination below 85% ethanol. Currently there are over four million flex-fuel cars on American roads, but only 1,133 stations in the country sell E85, compared to over 170,000 stations that don't. (There are 4 stations in Utah that sell E85)

It is debatable whether ethanol is actually energy-efficient or not. Some studies indicate that it takes 29% more energy to produce ethanol than is generated by that ethanol. Other studies (especially government studies) say that ethanol produces up to 34% more energy than is required to produce it.

If we use all of the current corn crop in the United States exclusively to produce ethanol, we will only be able to produce between 3.7% and 16% of the current energy demand in our country (depending on the source). According to David Pimentel (a Cornell professor considered a leading expert on ethanol), "if we decided to power all of our automobiles with ethanol, we would need to cover 97 percent of our land with corn." He also said that "it takes 11 acres to grow enough corn to fuel one automobile with ethanol for 10,000 miles, or about a year's driving. That's the amount of land needed to feed seven persons for the same period of time."

According to a study published in May (2007) by Iowa State University, "food prices have climbed an average of $47 per person due to the ethanol surge since last July (2006)." (only 10 months)

--
I'm not sure how or if you'll be able to use these in a talk, Dad, but they are still interesting things to know. Now you are educated about ethanol.

-Dallin