Such good examples

I feel so lucky that my Chasey and his future siblings have such good examples in family, friends and ward members of choosing the right. It makes it so much easier in a complex world to teach your children right and wrong when the others around them are being taught the same things. At the young age Chasey is at, one of the first opportunities Chasey will have to see his friends and cousins making a wonderful important decision is when they reach the age of 8 and choose to be baptized. Because of our callings in our ward, and having friends and family who have 8 year old children, Chasey has already had several opportunities to observe people he knows getting baptized. He is fortunate to have come along after many older cousins, and since he has been born 3 of his cousins have been baptized. One was very recent which is why I've been thinking so much about how lucky we are he has such good role models in his life.
Our first family baptism was Cathy, who is Brad's sister Rachelle's oldest daughter. Cathy was baptized the same weekend Chase was born, so he and I had to miss it, but Brad went. Unfortunately he took a disposable camera with him, so I don't have any digital copies of the pictures he took, but this is Cathy at the fourth of July. She is an awesome sister to all her brothers, and cousin to Chasey and I am so proud of her for paving the way for all her future siblings and cousins by being the first Bowen grandchild to be baptized!
In September of last year, the first Christensen grandchild was baptized. My sister Lindsay's oldest daughter Audrey is also a wonderful example to her siblings and cousins. I have been close to Audrey since the day she was born, and I had the priveledge of speaking on the Holy Ghost at her baptism. She is an amazing little girl!!
Finally, and most recently, only last month, Brad's sister Rachelle's second child, and oldest son, Benjamin was baptized. It was really wonderful to witness this occasion and for Chasey to see his first BOY cousin be baptized. Benjamin is a great example also.

The next Lancina Armstrong!

This morning, I did a 9 mile bike ride, with Chasey in his seat, all around Orem. And you know what? I am dang proud of myself!! It was hard and a great workout, and I was sweating buckets when I was done!! I may still be a fat girl, but I am getting in better shape, and it makes me feel really good to know that I can bike 9 miles, with a kid in tow, without stopping, (except for stop lights). Exercising is hard, but it is doable. Even for a fat girl!!! :)

Bradley's 33rd Birthday

August 26, 2009, my man turned 33. So I tried my hardest to make the day fun and special. We woke up about 7:30, and I made him french toast in bed. Then I got Chasey ready and put him in his high chair so that Brad could play a little football on his playstation. I had to go to work for a few hours, but Brad told me that he and Chasey ran a few errands, and played outside and they had a grand time. After I got home at 1, Brad and Chasey both took naps. Then when they woke up the real fun began!! We went down to Trafalga. First we road the Go-carts!! They let you ride for a full 5 minutes, and we all, especially Chasey, had a great time!! Then we mini-golfed. We started outside..... ...Then moved in cuz it was so very, very hot!!!

After our activities, I had a big surprise planned. Brad's dad and his brother, Trent.... ...Our sister-in-law Camille and nephew Bridger... ...His sister Becca and our brother-in-law Steven... ...And his mom and I... ...All surprised Brad with his birthday dinner at Chilis!! When Brad, Chasey and I got there, everyone else was already waiting. We all had a wonderful dinner, and cake and presents right there in the restaurant. It was a lot of fun, and I think Brad had a great birthday!!

Thanksgiving Point Trip #2

Well, we took advantage of $2 Tuesdays for a second time this month. This time we went to the Dinosaur museum with Brad's brother Trent, his wife Camille and their adorable son Bridger. It is so much fun to have our sons being so close. Camille tends Chase two days a week, so Chase and Bridger really get along well and enjoy each other, which is great for us to have them to do fun things with! The museum was really fun, and Chase actually enjoyed it this year. We went last year, and he was only 6 months old, so of course he was strapped in the Bjorn (you all remember my fascination with that, right?) and he didn't get it at all. It was definitely way more fun this year!!


Chase and Bridger both chillin' in their strollers!

Have you ever looked closely at the name of that big whale looking thing? Look at where I'm pointing my finger....Now say it out loud....Now say my name....Weird,huh??

So all in all, we had a great time at the museum. We are so lucky to have Thanksgiving Point so close by, it really is so fun!!

A Little Fun and Church History

Well, Monday morning Brad decided he didn't want to go into work, so he called in sick, and he got it in his head that we needed to go to the zoo. Going to the zoo is something we always talk about, but have never done together. It had been about 15 years since Brad went, and at least 10 for me, and that was in Oregon. I had never been to Hogle Zoo. So we decided to go as a family. It was really fun and we got some cute pictures.

First, we went on the train.....
Then we "monkeyed" around in the gift shop...
Finally we saw some of the animals. The giraffes were Brad's favorite.


On the way home I noticed we passed the "This is The Place" monument. As someone who really loves Church History, I felt we needed to stop for a minute. It was an amazing feeling knowing I was standing where Brigham Young stood when he first looked over the Salt Lake valley and knew the Saints didn't have to travel any further. I was a little emotional.
Being there made me proud of mine and Brad's pioneer ancestry and the sacrifices they made to settle Utah. What a great heritage.
It also reminded me how far-reaching the Church is. The man who took our picture was visiting Utah from Ireland. He had his neice with him who was in the States for the first time. Pretty cool!

A VERY Busy Week!!

Last week was very busy for the Bowen/Christensen clan. First, we were informed that Adam and Katie (my brother and sister-in-law) couldn't stand it anymore and were going to be induced Monday morning, the 10th. Well, as all of you mommies who have been induced know, just because Doctor says they will induce you at a certain time, doesn't mean it is going to happen that way! If other mommies start labor naturally, they obviously have first priority. So, the 7 am time they first talked about got pushed to noon, then 2 pm, and then finally at 7 pm, they were admitted. Katie seemed to be moving along well, but the babies head was not coming down straight, so they had to use the vaccum. After many more hours then they planned, Jonathan Reynar Christensen arrived in his 9 lb. 6 oz. 21 inch glory at 5 in the morning on the 11th......my birthday!!! So now me and baby Jonathan can celebrate together every year!
the birthday kids!!
And here's baby Jonny with his proud parents.


Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my fun Thursday night, but my best girlfriends, Amy, Becki, Amber and Carole took me out to Olive Garden for a belated birthday dinner. They are the best and we had a wonderful time talking, laughing and crying. That's what best friends do!!


So with all this excitement going on, my parents and youngest sister came down for a few days. Which was great timing because Friday, both Adam and Katie graduated from BYU!! But the night before graduation Katie and Jonny didn't sleep much so they missed the ceremony. Adam looked great in his cap and gown though, and we were all so proud! He is the first Christensen child to get his Bachelors!
Here is Adam getting his diploma.
Chasey is so proud of Uncle Adam!!


But, graduation wasn't the only thing being celebrated on Friday. It was also me and Brad's 5th wedding anniversary. Brad did really good and planned us an overnight getaway. He took me to the Anniversary Inn, and we stayed in the "Savannah Nights" room, complete with a balcony, a huge bed, and a jacuzzi tub. It was awesome! And for dinner we went to "The Roof". WOW!!
This was the view from our table! Not too shabby!!
And here we are enjoying our DELICIOUS meal!!
We got dressed up all fancy for our special evening out!


All in all, it was an exciting and wonderful week. Mostly I am grateful for a new healthy nephew, and for the five wonderful years I have shared with my hubby and best friend.

Thanksgiving Point

So, Thanksgiving Point has a promotion during the month of August where you can get into every venue for only $2 every Tuesday. Despite the fact that the place is PACKED, we took our chances this last week and went to Farm Country with my sister, her four kids, and two daycare kids. CRAZY!!! But still fun.
Chasey wasn't sure what to think of the big horses!
Here was the carriage ride. Brad with Chasey, my 6 year old nephew Dallin, my 9 year old niece Audrey, and one of the daycare kids, Lexi.
Chasey with my other two nieces, Emma, 4 and Claire, 2.
Brad tried to get the goats attention, but they ignored him. Sounds familiar.
And on the way out we got this cute shot with the cow. It was really fun. We still want to try to hit the Dinosaur museum and the Gardens another Tuesday. Anybody want to join us???

St. George

This past weekend we went to St. George overnight for a little getaway. It was fun, but a little more trouble than it was worth. We were a little disappointed because the outdoor pool at the hotel wasn't working, and I ask you, what is the point of going to St. George in the middle of the summer if you can't swim outside?? Well, we got a few cute pictures anyway.

Chasey had his first Twinkie on the way down. As you can see, he didn't get very much in his mouth!
While we were there Chasey discovered a fun game of crawling inside the dresser drawers in the hotel room!
And here are the boys chilling on the hotel bed. Fun times!!

Fun at the Scera Pool

Scera Pool offers a deal on Tuesday through Thursday nights from 6-8 of half price. So we decided to head on over and have a fun evening. Chase had a blast!! He is really a daredevil and would walk in the water until it was up to his neck!! We all had a great time, including Brad's brother Trent, his wife Camille, and son Bridger.




It was so fun, we can't wait to go again!!

My Star-Spangled Sister

As some of you know, my little sister Samantha has been into theater and acting since she was a little girl, she is very talented and has performed in many plays. Right now she is starring in the Heritage Theater's production of "The Star-Spangled Girl" by Neil Simon. It is a play about a southern girl with down-home values and a love of the USA, who falls in love with a war-hating, protest-loving magazine editor in 1966 San Francisco. It is a GREAT play, that is really funny, and she did AWESOME in it. It runs a few more weekends in Brigham City, if anyone is interested. So here are some pictures I took at the show.
My dad, the artist that he is, painted the set.....
...including this Make Love Not War poster, that looks like a poster, but is actually painted on the wall. Pretty cool.
Here's Sam, and the two guys that were also in the show, at curtain call. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I did anyway. Then I yelled out "Sam's my sister!!"
This is me and Sam after the show.
And here is Brad and i congratulating our "Star-Spangled Sister"!! Love you Sam, you are awesome!!

Pedal away Parkinson's 10 mile Bikeride

So in addition to running lately, I have also gotten into biking. I'm sure all of you have seen my riding through the neighborhood with Chasey in his little seat. I really enjoy bikeriding and consider it my "cross-training". Plus about once a week, we can convince Brad to join us on a ride. So as I was looking online for more 5K's to sign up for, I came across a bikeride for charity, so I looked into it. The charity was the Utah Parkinson's Disease society and the ride was 10 miles in Kaysville this morning. It was a really pretty ride through a park and some of the neighborhood's in Kaysville. The ride was geared toward families so there were lots of mom's and dad's pulling trailers, and lots of kids on their own bikes. I tried to get my whole family to join me, but only my mom and dad could get away from work. So the three of us did it with Chasey in tow! We had a great time, and finished the ride in 1 hour exactly. Pretty good for carrying a baby on the front of my bike!!

These two were taken at the start/finish line of the ride, in Gailey Park in Kaysville.
I can't decide if Chase is concerned about something here, or just annoyed that his picture is being taken!
This is my dad and Chase after the ride was over.
And here we all are celebrating at the finish line. It was really fun, and I think we'll try to do it again next year!