January Fun

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (LAURIE)

We had to have some fun with Flat Elder.

Do you think Wesley wants a bite of Carrot Cake?
It was Yummy! I know this since I had a piece 3 days in a row.

Wesley being happy serving the Lord in Jasper, Texas!

WINTER RUNNING

This year I have a goal to do a race each month.
January I went to Orem to run the "When Hale Freezes Over"

Kristin and I Freezing at the race. The sky was blue and the temperature was in the low 20's. We have 4 shirts on to try and stay warm.

Ha Ha, I took 2nd place for my age group. It really wasn't a very fast run for me.

Running in West Kaysville in January. It was cold enough the frost was clinging to the trees. It was a RED burn day, but not to worry. I run for my mental health, not my physical health.

Look what finally came in the mail.

Ethan has this birthday tradition of not actually getting his presents on his birthday for one reason or another. These are his Devil Sticks he got a week after his birthday. I ordered them over 2 weeks before his birthday. I guess next time I will have to order a whole month early.

Blog update and how

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!

More Brownies, Yum!

CHRISTMAS DAY, DECEMBER 25, 2009


Good morning...Where is Robin?


It's a bigger surprise if you open it with your eyes closed.

Grandma and Grandpa Lundstrom make it an early morning and come do the tree with us.

Could it Be?????

Santa is the best!




CHRISTMAS EVE , DECEMBER 24, 2009

Hmmm... Who ever could Santa be? Grace was to sharp and Santa had to bribe her to stop asking questions.

Robin plays with cousin Eli.

Ethan plays for our Christmas Eve concert.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas with "Flat"Elder Christensen.
Ha Ha look who is playing Santa this year, Flat Elder.
"Flat"Elder wishes the neighborhood a Merry Christmas!


December 23, 2009 - Elder Christensen arrives in the Texas Houston East (THE) Mission
Elder Christensen with President and Sister Mouldenhaur.
The Elders have come to "pick up" Elder Christensen and take him to his first area,
Jasper, Texas.

Elder Christensen's MTC days. December 2-23, 2009
Here is Houston Texas on the big MTC map.


MTC District
May the force be with you always.


Robin's Christmas Concert with her really bad flute.

Once there was a snowman, snowman,snowman once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall.

In the sun he melted.......
Robin spent a long time making Mr. Snowman and the next day it warmed up and he fell over. Once down on the ground he became the best playground for Daisy Doodle.


December 2, 2009- Missionary Training Center (MTC)
We took Wesley to the MTC today. It was one of the best days and hardest days ever! We have had Wesley in our home for 19 years and raised him the best we could. Today we gave him back to the Lord to finish the job. He will be a great missionary. He has a strong testimony and a great ability to love those around him. We will miss him for 2 years, but are so grateful for the Gospel and knowledge we have of Eternal Families.



We had one final lunch together at IN and Out Burger. Was the food good? I don't remember. I believe I was preoccupied thinking of other things.


We made our way over to the MTC and took pictures and said our last good byes (for 2 years).


Group Hug.

Good-bye Elder Christensen. See ya in 2 years!

As we drove away some of us cried and some of us are made of stone!


December 1, 2009, Wesley becomes Elder Christensen. We are so proud and happy for him. He is going to be a great missionary.
Clark, Elder Christensen (Wesley) and Laurie


Jacob, Elder Christensen (Wesley), Cameron, Ethan and Robin


Grandma and Grandpa Lundstrom with Elder Christensen (Wesley)
Elder Christensen (Wesley), Grandpa and Gandma Christensen and Great Grandma Graham



One last snowboarding trip. The sky was beautiful, the slopes were empty and the temperature was in the single digits!!! Brrrrr!


Wesley Spoke in church the Sunday after Thanksgiving. He was thrilled since there would not be as many people there. We had a nice time with family and Wesley did a great job on his talk.


Clark and the boys pretend to eat the leftovers. Like Clark would let sugar touch his lips.




Apparently, Ethan has had to many treats.


Just hanging out with the bothers playing Wii.


Finding the perfect Christmas Tree. This year we were going to let Wesley pick it out, but then decided he would pick the first tree he saw since he wasn't going to be here for Christmas. We ended up with a really small tree. It was the only one Robin agreed to get.




Walking.......


Looking.......


Not Looking......


Finding......


Cutting......


Decorating the tree for some reason seems to be something I think everyone should enjoy. Hmmm.... not everyone agrees with me on this.


Who knows what Jacob is doing. Not decorating


Ethan tries to figure out how to put a Texas flag on the tree for Wesley.


Wesley hung up 1 ornament and called it good.


Robin and Cameron put the finishing touches on the tiny tree.



NOVEMBER happenings.

Happy Birthday Cameron!



We all love Brownies!




Eating at Cameron's favorite restaurant .....Chuck-a-Rama! I am pretty sure he likes it just because of the self serve ice cream machine.


Ethan showing us how to use chop sticks.


Hot fudge sundae in a cup.

Dads and Sons Pack meeting . I was the only mom to show up so I left. Cameron had fun trying on the fire fighter suit.

Guess who had a Birthday! Wesley turned 19. He is headed out to serve in the Houston East Mission the beginning of December.


Happy Birthday Wesley!


Birthday Dinner At Red Robbin.....YUMMM!

Ethan and Cameron Waiting for food.

FALL

We love Halloween. We are down to only one costume this year. Cameron wanted to be an Archer. Here he is at the trunk or treating.



Cousins, Melissa, Spencer and baby Eli at trunk or Treating.


This is Costume # 2. Cameron left his archer costume in the car from trunk or treating and when the actual trick or treating came around the car was not home so he improvised. Pretty good Mad Scientist.

School Play

Cameron's class did the Headless Horseman play. He was a student of Ichabod Crane.


Band Season!!
Ethan and Jacob both Played the Alto Saxophone in the Marching band this fall. They had an awesome field show.

Jacob



Ethan


New Uniforms next Year. Jacob is Excited, but Ethan is sad he doesn't get to use them.



Robin had a Halloween Concert. I think she went as an old man.



October we made a trip to Lagoon the local amusement park. We started the day off with the white roller coaster at Cameron's request. That was the only coaster he did.


Robin and Laurie on the Sky Ride


Riding the Train. This one we had to force some to participate.


Robin trying on one of the costumes.


Waiting in line for the train. Don't they all look happy.


Cameron had the best time!


Jacob and Laurie hanging out at Lagoon.


The Flying Ace's are always worth a ride.


Music Express rocks according to the boys.

July found us with a new puppy and spending time with an old friend.


Jacob and Quintin have grown up!


Cameron, Robin and Daisy Dooddle.

Wesley's blog

I really should be better at posting. Maybe this winter. I just wanted to let you know we have a blog for Wes while he is on his mission. It is lifeinthemission.blogspot.com

frequency......

needs to be improved on this blog. We're doing terrible at it. So to catch up (sort of, wish I could actually get ahead on this thing, but that would be witchcraft :-), School, school, marching band for me and jacob (youtube Davis High School Marching Band Weber Review 2009). Wes got his call to the Houston East mission, he leaves Dec. 2. We went to Lagoon for the first time in years on friday, it was interesting, all the rides seemed much shorter this time. Jacob was brave enough to try some of the roller coasters, but robin, mom, and dad all got motion sick. General Conference was good, Jacob is keeping his no sugar thing, Wes is actually making bank working at subway during the day shift, I keep getting more sarcastic and senioritus-ee, Mom is.......I'll let her tell you. I still can't get over the fact that Clark's beard is gone, its weird. We applied for the HCP again, but there is some dissension over whether or not we should actually go. We got a new swamp cooler just in time for nature to skip fall and go straight to winter (we got hail in September!). Yeah, thats all I can think of right now. Maasalama.

life returns to "Normal"

Alright it has been a little over a week since we have been home and we are all back to normal (as normal gets) except Ethan who is attending Arabic camp at BYU and Robin who is at Girls Camp at Brighton, Utah. Ethan reported last night that the Arabic is starting to feel like AP Chemistry. Meaning he understands it during class time and then when he gets home to do the homework it doesn't make as much sense, but he can work through it. He also said a boy showed up Saturday who did the work crew for pageant and he has enjoyed talking with him.

Saturday was SPUDMAN! For those of you who do not know, it is a triathlon in Burley, Idaho. I can honestly say it was the funnest tri I have done. The swim is a mile in the snake river. Now this sounds hard, but it is only as hard as you want to make it. My friend and I pretty much floated the whole way. Our time was a stellar 24+ minutes. All we can say is open water swimming is NOT like swimming in a pool. The wet suit was great and I would highly reccommend it.


The Bike was 24 miles. Again, we did not give it our all here either. We took 1 hour and 31 minutes. We enjoyed the scenery (Ha Ha, remember it's Idaho) and just had a fun, shall we say, social ride. Many people passed us huffing and puffing.

The run.... It was a grulling 6.2 miles. I don't care who you are that was a hard run. Again remember Idaho, there are pretty much NO trees on the run. It was HOT. We poured water over ourselves every water stop, ran through the fire truck hose and neighbors sprinklers and were still hot. When we got done I could ring water out of my socks I was so wet. We did it in 1 hour 2 minutes. That was pretty dang good considering the temperature was probably low 90's and the fact that we did a bit of walking through all the water stops.

Our offical time was 3 hours and 7 minutes. Next year our goal will be to come in under 3 hours. Hmm.... we might need to practice that open water swim, be faster in the transitions and actually try on the bike.

I plan to sign up next year again if anyone one wants to join me. It was lots of fun. Oh yeah and you get a medal in the shape of a potato. Just what everyone needs for their collection.

Serendipitous

I've been hearing Cameron say that word all week. Guess what? He's even using it correctly! And they say that you don't learn anything from T.V.
Well, we thought that summer was here, and then it hailed on Saturday. It was only for about 15 minutes but we were still thinking "What the heck, its June!". Wes graduated on the 2nd, check out the picture(luckily we checked his robes the morning of and noticed they needed to be ironed, some of his class looked as wrinkly as some of the old fuddies on the stage).

If you've noticed by now that this isn't Laurie posting, congratulations! (it was my humbleness, wasn't it? ;-) Its actually Ethan, mom is still so absorbed by preparing to be cast team leader for HCP that she is totally neglecting the blog so I figured I'd better step up.

This week Jacob started Rookie Camp for Marching band and I started Summer Driver's Ed. Guess which of us is having fun (hint: the one whose name doesn't start with a vowel). Its interesting, my rookie year there were about 14 rookies in our section and this year there is only 4 (and one of them is really a clarinetist we stole!).

Sticking to the Jacob and I theme, we both are done with our AP tests and should get our results in the mail in about 1 to 1 1/2 months. Unfortunately, we won't be here. We'll both be at BYU for language camps, him for Chinese, and me for Arabic (well, I've been accepted but they won't tell me how to register, I'm not sure what happens now).

Robin had her 12th birthday last month and has moved to Young Womens. I think she likes it, but I haven't asked so you never know. She's also graduated from elementary school which I know she is happy about. Just wait until she starts junior high.......

Dad is still on his health thing, unfortunately he isn't losing any weight thanks to the luscious beard he insists on growing (its really just a plea for attention, no one else who works for the church can grow one so he stands out like a Zune at iworld).

Here are some more pictures of Wes, who doesn't have any other news because he's been in front of a TV since graduation.
Sorry wes, I couldn't resist. This is wes in his debut role as the cat in the hat for our ward's roadshow. Just be thankful I'm not posting my photos, I was later informed I looked like a gay unicorn (I was a munchkin).

Welcome Spring

First we had a lot of this, but the weather has finally changed for the better and we are expected to be in the 70's most of the week. It has been a long winter.


Cameron is dreading the spring and summer ( I wonder if he really could be a child of mine) because he hates bees. He has been stung more than any other kid in our family and he is the youngest.


This is Ethan ready for prom. He had a good time. Being the mom I asked him if her dress was pretty and his response was, "It was poofy." I've seen the pictures now and it was very cute.



Ethan brought home this picture after I posted yesterday and I thought I would add it. The prom was at the capital so they went to Temple Square first and took some pictures.

He can smile here because the AP tests are not looming over his head just yet. We have 6 weeks of school left. I am so excited. I am ready to sleep in and not have the kids staying up late with homework. Don't get me wrong. I am pretty sure they will still be up late, just not doing homework.