Wow..craziness

Brennan really loved the Knox Blox that are a Grandpa speciality. Putting them down like candy, he was.
Really can you have enough chocolate and caramel in one delicious bite? Wynter, Noah, and Kris don't think so.


Awaiting the all important egg hunt. All those fabulously colored eggs are hidden, can we find them all?

Carter is a very serious egg hunter. I think he was a little overwhelmed with all the children there to help. He is normally the only one interested in finding the eggs, therefore, having the pleasure of taking his time.
We thought we were golden and found all the eggs when one carton came up one short. Carter was truly disappointed in himself for not being able to find this last egg. We all searched high and low, no one could find it. Carter persevered long after everyone else had given up. This might be the part of the story where you would hear he found it and all was right with the world again. However, it is still lost. Carter had to take a moment and compose himself because he was so sad that is was lost. I don't think he even remembers that one egg is still hidden deep in the front garden of Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

Wynter was a fabulous helper. She would help Brennan find one and then he would run to the egg collectors excited as can be.

Taylor, she was thrilled and went full force to find as many as she could.

Mason had some help and got so excited when he would see one. He was really careful with them. We could only let him find one at a time because if there were two he would clap them together with the thrill of the find.

Wynter at work again with Joshua.

Grandpa was known to take an egg out of the carton he was collecting in and 'hiding' it again. Mason thought this was great, he was the one finding all these extra gems. :)

Brennan on a stroll, just taking it all in.

How many eggs can you juggle, Grandpa?

All the kids. The funniest thing about the picture is getting Mason to sit down. While we were deciding the best course of action our wonderful and talented Skye says, "I could just restrain him." Love it! They know Mason so well. :) That job was harder than it seemed at first, however, she got it done and we got quite a few great pics.


The handing out of some 'goods' from Grandpa and Grandma. They never realized the fun they were about to unleash.



The 6 girls. Love my sisters to death. They are my best friends and I love them each dearly.



The jump ropes from Gma and Gpa were a huge hit. Not just with the children. I couldn't jump rope and take pictures, so you just have to imagine.
Jamie, Joshua, Sahara, and Zoie.
The kids were exhausted after all the jumping and a movie time seemed just the ticket. I don't think they were all exhausted because Taylor and Brennan didn't leave Grandpa alone.

I don't know what they are doing, but it much have been fun!

*there will be more Easter pics again, as soon as I get them. :) This also starts the really bad plague of the Christiansen's. Not us, thankfully, all of Mike's siblings and their children were dealing with this nasty fever, sick, week long horrid virus. Talk about worse timing ever. We all had to steer clear of each other to avoid contamination. :(

Conference Center

The kids and I got ready for the day and headed across the street to watch conference with all of Mike's side of the family. Just before the first sesson ended I headed out with Carter for our special date. The plan was to go into the Conference Center in SLC to watch Conference. That did not happen because they were out of tickets. There was suppose to be this way to get them because we came from overseas, but alas it did not happen. Maybe if I would have pulled out an English accent it would have been more convincing that we did fly 6,000 miles to watch.
Carter and I decided to stay in Salt Lake and sit in the tabernacle and watch it from there. He thought it was pretty cool being where they use to do conference. Although he looks completely unhappy in this picture, I assure you he was happy. We walked around the temple for a bit and just enjoyed the gorgeous day.
Carter is an amazing little boy who truly loves the gospel. He has a goal to bear his sweet testimony in church each Fast Sunday, and he does it. He hasn't waivered and says something different wach time. He is such a sweet and loving person. I look forward to watching him grow into a man and to see all that he will do.

*pictures of the other kids and coloring fun happening at Nana's and Poppa's will be posted as soon as I get them....hint hint, Chelsi. :)

Easter Morning

Easter ended up being quite the day and so it will take a few posts to get all the pictures up. This was our own Easter morning. The bunny came, the bunny hid, and the kids were pleased. As always, the finding of the eggs was primarily Carter's doing. Also, the finding of baskets. I think he is so fast that Taylor misses the beat to actually figure out what she is suppose to do. We had a little chat with Carter and he allowed her to have some fun as well. :)

Carter is an expert at finding I tell you. He thought this was his basket until further examination and realized that he did not wear headbands.

Brennan found his basket with some help and saw the one piece of sugar that lay inside, Cadbury's Caramel Egg. Grandma and Grandpa are remodeling their front room and so Grandma's paintings were on the floor. We didn't plan it as a background, but it is a fitting one as all this fun of Easter is certainly not the reason we celebrate.

After searching high and low, Carter finally was able to find his basket.

Mason quickly threw clothes to the side and tried to find anything yummy inside. He loved all the new books he received.

Breakfast of champions! The three decided they wanted their chocolate egg right then. Why wait for something so fabulous. This year that was all they got in terms of sweets and I really thought it was great. There was no fighting the rest of the day with trying to get them to eat something besides sugar, it was gone and I was pleased. :)

Carter got a new books as well. He thought it was, "very interesting and full of information about knights."

Brennan did want to wear the headbands. :)

Taylor was so grateful for everything that was in her basket. That is one thing I do love and appreciate about my children. Typically they are very appreciative and thankful for the things they receive and don't complain about what they could have had, or wanted to have. It is refreshing knowing they will love whatever is brought to them.

Easter Egg Dying

It was fun to be in town for a holiday and join in some of the festivities that we normally miss out on. After we had watched both sessions of Conference at the Craven household we headed over to Grandma's and Grandpa's house for some coloring fun. We had 9 kids and about that many dozen eggs.

On behalf of Mike we let Brennan play in the blue and orange colors and make some fabulous eggs. We normally have some Chicago Bears themed eggs going on, so why should this year be any different?

Aunt Mindy was the super star that helped Mason get those eggs done. Mason thought this was extra funny this year for some reason and was laughing so hard. He had a fabulous time! He would laugh for awhile and then have to stop so that he could catch his breath, then would be right back laughing hysterically again.

Gymnastics and Kung Fu

We had some cousin fun doing some gymnastics tricks and kung fu. It was hilarious to watch all of them flip around like a bunch of crazy's. They were maniacs and full of energy. There were 6 boys and little Sahara, Zoie missed the action as she was at school that day.

Can you tell what Brennan is trying to accomplish?

Handstand/Headstand contests. YIPPEE!!

Love my little Joshua man. Seriously, this kid makes me laugh all of the time. He talks all the time and just wants to watch movies. Mason and Joshua got along just fine with their love of movies. One day they are going to be critics together.

Back to surprising...

*It has been one of those weeks..sorry for the delay*

Sorry for the delay in my posting. As that first few days went on it was more and more fun surprising people left and right. Some were not as surprised as others. Note to self, when trying to surprise people don't go to Wal-Mart, you are sure to see someone who will then text people. Others were the absolutely shocked. I can't decide if I am going to post videos or not, but I think that Aunt Heather and Aunt Kellie have a toss up for best reaction. The kids popped right into their roles as cousins just fine and were so excited about surprising people. Mason looked for the TV at every house, which was his way of making himself right at home I assume.

Taylor was immediately fasinated with Aunt Christy and Uncle Ryans surplus of skiing gear. She would fit right in with that group of dare devils! :)

Apparently I used the wrong point of contact to surprise Mike's siblings. We thought we pulled it off only to be told the instant that we opened the door, "we knew it!" Okay, they didn't really know it, but they thought that Jeni was acting weird and so they figured that something was happening. Only to find out that Derek also saw me at Wal-Mart, but didn't say anything!! :) See Wal-Mart is damning!! :) We surprised Nana and Papa while hanging out with Chelsi and Kasey at their house for Conference. I think that Nana was super surprised and although her first concern is that she had sent an Easter package to our house, she was delighted to see all these big kids! :)

SURPRISE!!!

Carter was so excited to be on the airplane. He had been really crabby since finding out we were going and I couldn't figure out what his deal was. Then as we were taking off he said, "I can't believe you were telling the truth, we really are going." Then he was golden child the rest of the way. My kids were amazing, truly amazing children who I could travel with any time. They shocked me with their patience, humor, and just plain old fabulousness. :) It is not often you can land after a 10.5 hour flight and not feel an ounce of stress. Incredible, my kids are better than anyone's kids....at least on that day. ;) Looking over Greenland. Carter was curious and found it very interesting that Greenland was not green.

Brennan the super star!! Not one tantrum, not one frustration, he just went along for the ride. Mason enjoyed the in flight entertainment, and Taylor was just busy with all her new stuff in that precious carry on!

On to the surprises. I have most of the first week on video and didn't get much in terms of pictures of the surprising. However, without Jamie this fabulous surprise never would have happened. She bit her tongue for two months while we plotted away on how to pull of the surprise. Jamie called my parents to come and watch the kids so that she could get out of the house for a little bit. When the parents are late, the pick up at the airport is late. That was the most frustrating part...waiting in SLC airport for my sister! :) Jamie finally made it there and it was a little piece of heaven to see my sister. So excited!! The kids were drunk with tiredness, they hadn't slept the whole time until we got on our short flight from San Fran to SLC. Carter couldn't even walk straight he was so tired. He was still fabulous and pulled it together to get in the truck and start surprising people.

Jamie walked in her back door and found my parents watching a movie together on the couch. My mom turned and asked how she was and what she did. Then the kids and I walked out from behind the door. Mom just stared at me! She had no emotion what so ever for about 10 seconds. Then the scream happened, she finally realized who was standing in the doorway. Dad at this point hadn't turned around at all! :) He slowly stood up as my mom was rushing to hug me to death. Then he realized what was happening. It was so fun and the perfect start to the next few days of surprising. The kids and I were exhausted and crashed at Jamies that night ready to start what would end up being a month in Utah!

Where to begin?

It may have been helpful to start this blogging expedition while on our trip, but we were having to much fun. This might take awhile, although I will try and be speedy about it. This is just the start where about 30 minutes before our ride to the airport happened the kids found out they were going. Mason already knew and was busy being ornery that we weren't leaving, so no pics of his sweet face. I told Carter and Taylor they would be getting their birthday presents early this year because they were to big to wait. They thought they were getting an airplane. After explaining where we were going Carter immediatly knew what that meant. Taylor took a moment and Carter explained just what "Utah" meant. :)

Gymnastics

Carter flipping around the house again prompted me to say, "That's it Carter your mom is going to sign you up for gymnastics."

"I can't do that mom." Carter said

Mom replies, "Why on earth not?"

"Because gymnastics is only for girls, that is what my friends told me."

"Your friend's are very wrong, go up and shower and then I have some videos to show you."

While he was showering I had pulled up about 10 minutes of YouTube videos on Men's gymnastics. Carter was amazed!! Literally had his mouth hanging open.

Mom then asks, "Carter do you still think that gymnastics is only for girls?"

"NO WAY MOM, thanks for showing me these!"

Then he went upstairs and spent the next 15 minutes doing this. He balances himself for about 5-10 seconds and then would flip over and somersault onto the couch.

I have called the center and we will be starting gymnastics ASAP.

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Time flies when your having fun!

Mason had one of his nights of no sleep last week. Obviously at some point I crash and he has free reign. The gate no longer holds him, he screams all night if I just leave him in his bed, I'm at a loss as to how to take care of this problem of our's. You may be wondering what this picture has to do with Mason's night.
In the morning I came downstairs to find that Mason had done a bit of work on the computer. I normally shut it down before I go to bed, but with Mason waking early I didn't get a chance to finish my nightly routines. Mason had put this picture up on the desktop and I have really loved it all week long. This is Brennan in moldy house when he was 2 weeks old. Carter took this picture without us knowing he was doing it. We found it on his camera disc about 2 months later. I just love this picture so much and I know it never got on here. So here is Brennan when he was I think Brennan and not Hunter or Alma or Thurston or one of the many other names he was given in the beginning.
I can't believe this little baby is going to be two years old in a few months time. That is crazy to me!!

"I'll do it myself!"

Taylor came and got me from upstairs to get her breakfast and when I got downstairs she already had all of this at the table. She just didn't want to pour the milk or juice. This little monkey does this every morning now and loves to do it herself!

Painting

I would love to claim that I am a fabulous mother who went all out for St. Patty's day and that is why there is green paint everywhere. However, that is not the case, we only had green paint left to use. I forced Brennan's hand in that paint and after his shock of slime and gross touching him he loved it.

I didn't need to suggest to Taylor more than once that making handprints might be fun. She loves painting!

Just some thoughts...

This was on Saturday. I told Carter I got to sleep until 8:00am. He went to work making me and Taylor some breakfast and had it waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. Moments like this one keep you sane for when he is punching someone for standing to close to him.

Taylor was quite pleased that Carter even thought of her for a special breakfast.

Brennan is perched on the couch watching Carter play a Curious George number game. He loves sitting up there and cheers loudly every time Carter does something great. A true supporter of his big brother.

I decided that Mike should finally get his wish and have a picture of me on here. That is about as good as it gets with my short arms trying to take a picture. Brennan now says, "cheese" when he sees the camera.

This was as Brennan was sitting on the couch and I just had a moment of appreciation for tiny feet. Eventually they will become boy/man feet and won't be cute any more. I'm not saying my feet are cute, in fact quite the opposite. However, I just know that this little foot is going to go to so many places, carry him to see so many things, sit him down for lessons of life and lessons in school. This foot is a beautiful creation and I am grateful for it. I am grateful that I was blessed with it in my life.

This week has been hard. Not something major and stressful hard, but small things adding up to make my shoulders heavy, my burden great, and my sanity small. I yelled when I should have remained quiet, I thought the worse of myself over things that I had no control. Most of all, I just felt useless and powerless in things of my life that I would love to take control of. I feel like I should be finding joy in so many things, and I am blind to them right now. These little feet helped me to recongnize that it is okay that I keep forgetting to write people back. It is okay that I can't return a phone call 50% of the time. It is also okay to feel tired and done with the stuff. However, it is not okay to remain that way. Our feet can carry us away from our own burdens and stresses and sometimes we won't need them at all, because we will be carried.

For the love of Chess....

Carter's newest favorite thing. We are learning Chess...and he is good. I'm not great, but for him to compete with me, I think that is pretty good. I don't help him anymore or I'll lose. Fine, he beat me this morning. First game that he has done that. Did I mention we have only played 3 times?