Recent Prayer from Eli

Eli is very thoughtful when he prays and it's interesting to note what he discusses with Heavenly Father. Occasionally he will pick a theme (usually friends and toys) to be thankful for. We love that almost always his prayers are giving thanks... he doesn't ask for things. Here's an example of a prayer he gave for dinner last night.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you that the spiders could go away
Thank you for the crickets
Thank you for ladybugs
Thank you for grasshoppers
Please bless the food
Thanks I could draw a dragon picture
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

Traditions Ball Pictures

 

Kim and Wynette at the BYU Traditions Ball in April 2009

Fondue Night at the Christensens

 

The menu: shrimp and sirloin with sauce that was yummy, cauliflower, brocoli, french bread and pears with cheese sauce; angel food cake, strawberries, blackberries, and pineapple in chocolate sauce. Hmmmm.

Fondue night April 19, 2009

 
Whit and Brooke are expanding their cooking skills and shared a night of fondue. It was yummy and we all had to take a walk to burn it off. McKay came to eat and told us more about his internship to Alaska. It was a beautiful day. We had fun watching the bees, and enjoying the fruits of our yard work the day before!

Visit from the Madsens

 
We had a surprise visit from the Madsens this week. We were glad to see that they haven't changed at all. They were on their way to Silina for a class ( Peggy was...John went for the ride. We have enjoyed catching up with friends in these golden years of our life...cough.

View from our House

 

Time to get the skiis out ....Again -- April 16, 2009

 
Here is what greeted our eyes as we got up this morning. It isn't easy to get your spring yard work done when it keeps snowing like this. We were going to hike a slot canyon tomorrow but we are now thinking we might go up to Snowbird and catch some spring skiing. We have been married 33 years tomorrow and on reflection this morning we still think it is the best decision we have made in our lives--to get married to each other!

April 2009 Happenings

 
On Monday night, Kim and I went sking for what is probably the last time this ski season. We had a great time. Since it stays light until 8:30, I picked Kim up from work and we drove to the Alpine loop. A dad and his young son were just finishing the loop. We got in some pretty good speeds since the road was pretty icy...esp. as the sun started going down. We felt stiff the next day but sure had fun. On Friday, we got to experience the first taping of all the BYU choirs for broadcast in ten years. We enjoyed the delayed clapping required for filming and to see behind the scenes of what will later be on TV. The best part was the end when the orchestra and all the choirs sang together songs such as Come, Come Ye Saints, Lead Kindly Light, and an original piece by a graduate. It was a wonderful performance and my favorite part was the cute little lady behind me that blissfully slept through the whole thing.
On Saturday night, Kim got tickets to a BYU Alumni Ball in the Hinckley center. If I had taken my camera I could be the proud owner of a shot of me and Cosmo. We did get pictures of me and Kim because we waited in line to have it taken and will get the picture later. There was yummy finger foods, root beer floats, entertainment ( we listened to the BYU Accapella "Noteworthy") and danced to Ray Smith band. There were some very obvious ballroom dance couples. We felt right at home. We got our pictures snapped several times by a photographer that roamed the activities. We will see if they surface anywhere. It was a black tie affair and Kim promised me that next year he would fit back into his tuxedo so I could wear a formal like so many there...we will see. We hope that next year we can have some of our kids go with us. There were BYU couples to very old but very spry dancer couples. They did have dance instruction but it was tooooo crowded. We introduced ourselves to several other couples and had fun learning about them and the last couple we sat by was from our stake and new (from Oklahoma City). They recognized Kim and introduced themselves. We had fun learning about their daughter that had her mission call and met a boy that was going to BYU Jerusalem Center in two weeks. They dated and she decided to not go on her mission and they just had their wedding last month. It was a fun fun time!

Easter at Great Grandma's in American Fork

 

We had a fun day in spite of the rainy weather. When we got to Grandma Fife's, everyone got busy setting up for lunch. Then we cleared the tables and colored eggs with the great grandkids. Evan, Alisha and family, Caitlin with her 3 girls, and RJ ( grandson) got busy with stickers, crayons and colored sand. When they all got done, we cleaned up and had lunch. After a big ham, enchilda, tortilla soup and lots of salad stuff, we had a short program by the kids about Easter. Evan recorded it for a fun reminder in years to come. Then the adults had an egg hunt downstairs while the little kids had an egg hunt upstairs. Whit and Brooke were quite disappointed that the adult did not try very hard. We all enjoyed being together and finished the afternoon with a thimble water game. The younguns had a fun time playing with the adults and loved to splash the thimble of water when their catagory was guessed.

Easter and Catching up with the TyandNats

The celebration of Easter hits home a little more this year with the recent passing of Bryce (my little brother). It is wonderful to be reminded of the resurrection and the blessings and happiness we can continually enjoy through the plan of salvation. This is a great time to teach our kids what we believe about the gospel plan and what will happen to us after we die. Natalie has posted a different picture each day this past week representing each of the last seven days of Christ's life. We've explained to the kids what happened on that day and why we care. Today we had a very special meeting at church and we have just really enjoyed a peaceful feeling this week.

We’ve also enjoyed some of the “fun” things that accompany this holiday season. Last week we enjoyed a two day general conference for the LDS church where we were able to hear the prophet and 12 apostles speak.



Easter Egg hunting. Last Friday Natalie and I found a babysitter and went to an “adult” Easter egg hunt here in the community. There were a lot of people there and our inexperience showed as we were only able to retrieve 12 eggs between the two of us (of the 3000 that were out). We did win some free food and our big win was a free session of acupuncture. If anyone wants that let us know :). We were just thrilled to be on a date and participated in the pre-hunt activities, winning second place in the sack race and winning a t-shirt (to some local Irish pub) for quick reactions to a request made of the d.j. We’re planning on returning next year with the goal of finding 20 eggs.
Eli went on a egg hunt yesterday with the Primary and was thrilled to get a little candy and Natalie was happy to see so many of her Primary friends. We'll have a family easter egg hunt tomorrow after we buy all the discounted holiday candy (another favorite tradition).

Monster pillows. Eli, like many children, has been very attached to a blanket he’s had since he was born. We’ve indulged him and let him wear it threadbare. It’s about gone and he’s been going through missing pains already so Natalie decided to replace it with something slightly smaller and cooler. So she’s spent the last few week creating monster pillows for Eli and Sharon and gave them to them this morning. They are awesome and the kids love them (and I’m jealous that I didn’t get one).



Daddy date. On Tuesday this week I took Eli on a “dad date” to the Banneker center. There we met a bunch of other random dads and sons from the community and we made “stuff.” There was scrap wood, building supplies (saws, hammers, glue, etc.), and painting materials available. Eli and I decided to be a little different (most dads help their sons make recognizable objects like toy trains). We took the coolest scraps we could find and pieced them together into a time machine named Frank. Eli was quite proud of his work and many of the other dads and sons were quite impressed with his creativity. We’re going to try to do a similar “date” this coming week… maybe we’ll make a boring train.



First date anniversary. Natalie and I went on our first date six years ago today. For that date we went hiking and got sandwiches at Gandolfo’s. So this year we got fancy grinders/subs/whatever-you-call-em sandwiches yesterday to eat as leftovers today and we’ll go hiking sometime soon (we hike every year to celebrate). Note: the picture below isn't from our first date, but from our 2nd week (6th or 7th date)... As good looking as Natalie was then, she's even better looking now.

Three Amigos Waiting...waiting for the Line to Move

 

Conference Weekend: We got tickets for Sunday morning and afternoon. In the morning, Brooke and Whit got to use tickets that were down front and the rest of us went up in the balcony. Then we walked to Whit's work place that is across from Liberty Park (?) and we ate lunch in their conference center. It was fun to see where Whit goes every day. Then Brooke and Whit went to Brooke's since we only had 4 tickets for the afternoon session. We got to go down front. It was nice to see all the faces up close. We enjoyed being together and with many Saints from around the world. It was a great day.

On my one weekend off....

A couple of weeks ago was my only weekend off for a month so I enjoyed it. Anika was in town visiting so I went to the 4th ave street fair with her and Lauryl. The city closes off the street and it is filled with vendors from Tucson and other places. There were lots of people and it was super hot outside so it wasn't too enjoyable. There was this cool shop there that has vintage prints put on stools, wooden boxes and such. They have helicopters made from soda cans and bags made out of capri suns. They had a purse made out of records and ties. They had some really creative stuff. We went and got food at a mexican restaurant and took it Lauryls house and ate it. Then we put together a puzzle. Anika is a puzzle person so that was fun to have someone to do it with. Then we played phase 10. I lost. Sunday I went over to Lauryls after church and we had dinner and then put together one of my puzzles. It was much more difficult since it was of impressionist art, Seurat's Sunday Afternoon , so the colors were hard to figure out and it was 1000 pieces. We had brownies that I made for dessert. I found this cool recipe that uses black beans and no flour. They were suprisingly good. You can't taste the beans at all. Monday we got together again and ate at Beyond Bread, mom's fav, and then went to the dollar show and saw a really stupid movie. It was supposed to be a comedy but I think I laughed more during the previews than the movie. It was fun to spend time with Anika since I don't get to see her much.

I am attempting a garden again and hope I have better luck this year. The soil here is very clayish and hard so I have been digging a hole so I can mix in some potting soil with my dirt. The hole ended up being rather large. I got a little carried away. Who knew digging a hole could be so much fun!! It was deep enough that I had to leave some steps in it so I could get out. I had maintenace people come over the other day to make sure I wasn't digging into the electrical wires. Sure enough I had just barely gotten to them. They aren't buried more than a foot under so I am glad they came and told me or I could have electricuted myself!! They have been on the roof getting our coolers working and they saw the hole and were wondering what I was doing. He was joking and said I could fit two bodies in there! Digging holes is a great workout. It has been a rather long process filling it back up. I have to keep going back to the store to buy more potting soil and then I have all this extra dirt I don't know what to do with! Any ideas anyone?

These other pictures are of the flowers the Wollenzien's sent me for my birthday and of my new old bike!