Carter's Breakfast

Yesterday Carter decided I was taking too long to make breakfast, so he decided to do it himself. He told me my 'dinner' was ready and that I needed to come and eat. All the towels are there because everything was very hot! i was not allowed to touch anything because they were a danger to me, they were too hot. :) He was also in charge of the cutting, much to dangerous for me.

He served up spaghetti, pizza, rolls and some fruit and vegetables. What I loved is when he leaned over the table and whipsered, "mom, we don't have to say a prayer cause this is pretend food."

I absolutely LOVE Carter's imagination. He can come up with just about anything and it makes me smile most of the time. Sometimes, his imagination can get him into a little trouble.

Bon Appetite!

Blankets, Blankets and more Blankets

From this picture you can see the small obsession that my sweet little Taylor Mae has-Blankets!! There are 7 blankets sitting by her right there. She had to go to bed with all of them, and they have to come out of bed with her as well. She gets so frustrated that she can not carry them all. She has her favorites, but for whatever reason we have to make sure that all the blankets are with us before we leave her room in the morning.

Take some away when she is not looking, is that what you are thinking? Wrong, she now knows where the blanket closet is, and will just pull as many she sees fit if she doesn't have her 'special 7' I would rather have these small 7, then 2 or 3 of the big blankets from the closet lingering in the house.

I am including one more of her trying to bring all 7 to the table for breakfast, but she finally settled for 2. Got to love her!!!

pumpkin patch

Conference Weekend

Can I tell you all how much I love Conference(a once every six months church meeting held over a course of 2 days with 5 two hour sessions) First, it is a weekend for just being together as a family listening to the teachings of the Prophet, Apostles and other leaders of the church. It is a great opportunity to do nothing but be spiritually fed, and also have a few treats. :)


Carter got a hold of a camera half way between sessions today and I thought I would include a few of his best. I love this picture of Taylor because I think it captures her little devil self that is trapped and disguised in the cutest of packages. I am just kidding of course. Someone at church last week said they thought she had one of those huge spirits that just wanted out of the little body they were trapped in. What an independent spirit she is!!! I don't know if people say that as a polite way of saying, "hey, your kid is really hyper and all over the place." How ever it is intended we will try to assume the most positive!


We are able to watch conference through BYU-TV and are so grateful for that. Mason was literally obsessed with Mike today. He wanted to cuddle with daddy all day long. I guess Carter thought that was something to capture permanently. I do too, or course. :)



We all get to be in our relaxing clothes for the broadcast. What a fabulous day not to have to try and get everyone ready for church. Even though those days are great as well. It is nice having a break from making sure shirts are ironed, pants clean, shoes ready, no one spills on themselves morning. I really do love Sundays-don't read into my comments as a negative thing please.

Carter also decided to document me talking with Aunt Jamie while starting the beginnings of cinnamon roll making. New tradition in the Christiansen home established today, cinnamon rolls every conference weekend! For the record--I finally made them perfect!! I have made them in the past and something got messed up because they just weren't as fabulous as my predecessor, my mother, well today I did it! Yes, I finally got them right!

Speaking of mothers. There was alot of talk about mothers in conference today. I just want my mom to know what a blessing she is. She has taught me alot about strength and endurance in the most difficult of times. I know she struggles day to day and I recognize that. I hope she knows how much I love her. She has taught me valuable lessons that she doesn't even realize. Mom, I love you!

Other highlights from this conference. Sustained in the church was a new 2nd counselor in the presidency, Pres. Henry B. Eyring. Also a new apostle in the quorum of the twelve, Quentin L. Cook.

I would like to let all of you know that I know that we have a prophet on the earth today and he is Gordon B Hinckley. I also know that we have a Savior who came to this earth to live, suffer for our sins and die for us that we might return to our Heavenly Father. I know that there was a restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. That gospel is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that the priesthood is a real authority and power given by God to his worthy male members of the church. That priesthood has given me blessings in my life that I wouldn't have seen without it. Listening to the talks today and yesterday has only confirmed my testimony of these things. I know the Bible and the Book of Mormon are concrete evidence in all of these things. They teach us what we need to know to return to our Heavenly Father. He is our father, he loves us as our father. His love is greater than any we know on this earth. He wants us to make obedient choices so that we can return to him. We are on this earth today to prepare ourselves to meet our God, our Eternal Father in Heaven. I know these things. I can not deny them, because I have felt there blessings in my life and have had these truths confirmed to me by the Holy Ghost. I say this all in the name of my Savior, my Redeemer, my brother Jesus Christ, Amen.

I hope you all have a wonderful week filled with a renewed spirit of helping others and staying positive.
I love you all!!!
Hollie Sue

My kids might like school too much. & seminary

Today Mason woke up and was extremely ornery. He fought to get dressed, sank down to the floor when he needed to go potty, kicked me half a dozen times when trying to get his shoes on, you get the picture. He then stands by the front door whining for about 10 minutes waiting for the bus. I sang, danced, read a book etc..trying to settle him down in anyway. I had to force his medicine down his throat and finally the bus came. He hauled himself out the door, walked up the steps of the bus, sat in his seat and gave me the biggest grin! What a little stinker!! He waved his happiest and most energetic wave to send me off. I least I get to see him happy for a moment. :)
Carter is sad today because he doesn't have school on Wed. He then informed me they will also miss Friday this week.
I love that my children love school, but sometimes I wish they would say, "Mom, do I have to go today, I love being home with you." (of course with their most pathetic looking puppy eyed faces possible) I know, I know, get real mommy dear! At least I know that they are being treated well, and have friends that care about them. I understand it could be so much worse.

Today in Seminary we talked about Abram(later called Abraham) and the beginning of him making covenants with the Lord.
Lesson about teenage boys: They giggle if you talk about someone getting pregnant in the scriptures, the phrase multiply and replenish the earth, and apparently also about animal sacrifice.
In Genesis 15: 9-12, you learn about Abram's part in making a covenant with the Lord through animal sacrifice. It is a pretty detailed account of the event, so easy to visualize..hence the laughing. A topic that could have taken 3 minutes took 10 because of all the distraction. I can't win some days. They are either too tired to make a noise of any kind, or they are so awake that they are just silly! These boys that I teach are very smart and at least they are laughing and having fun while studying the scriptures. I could look on the greener side of the pasture. I believe they did understand the essential part in making covenants with the Lord, even in our day. Making sure that we have power over Satan and not the other way around. So today's lesson we can call a success, despite the distractions.