Winter, Christmas, Gifts and Craziness…

Hello and Happy December, I cant believe how fast this year has gone, we as a family have had lots of ups and downs, but no regrets.  I have been trying to make Christmas Special this year for family and friends, I have been teaching myself to crochet, and making lots of fun stuff.  Here are some of what I have been doing….

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this AdOrABle Horse for a very cute nephew….

(I found this pattern on Pintrest)

LOTS of Hat for the nieces, and nephew, kind of of like these ones…

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I have made Boy ones and Girl ones for the friends kids…

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and now on to my cute daughter and her Special Olympics Party….

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and sitting on Santa’s Lap, He asked her “what would you like for Christmas” Chawndell reply's “I don’t Know”  Well then I’m thinking.  I usually get my BEST ideas from what she tells Santa

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and I LOVE to take our family pictures, but my family does not.  So I made them go outside and get it done, we had fun and got some CUTE ones…

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I LOVE LOVE how they turned out!!!!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, LOVE the Christensen’s!

Time for a update

Not really sure what to update you all on.  One thing…..it is no longer summer/fall it feels like WINTER, we have even had SNOW.  I’m not ready to be cold all the time. 

Chawndell finished swimming and now has moved on to Bowling, I think the only reason she likes to go is the Friends, such a social thing she is!!!!  She received 2 silver medals in swimming at her state games.

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She increased both her times and swam awesome!!!!

a few weekends ago we were lucky to spend the whole weekend with my nephew Ranger, we had a blast and he is very very cute, and is starting to talk….I got a kick out of one thing he says, He will tell his toy animals to “SIT”  Ranger LOVES Chawndell and Chawndell LOVES him, they are very cute together!!

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this is my FAVORITE picture of him, he is looking down the lens of my camera, kinda saying “hay Aunt Noelle, what are you doing”  Don’t you love those BIG blue eyes??

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I have one more thing to show ya, this is Chawndell’s 9th grade school picture…..

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Swimming, Swimming.

Chawndell is a FISH and she will tell you all about it.  Scpeial Olympics has started swimming, and Chawndell LOVES it.  But she is Terrified of the Meets.  HECK I would be to, DEEP water, COLD water and LOUD noises.  For her being, scared, nervous and cold, she did AWESOME!!!  One SILVER, one BRONZE and Lots of tears from me.  By the time she reached the end of the pool I had HUGE tears in my eyes, I have never seen her swim so good and work, for, something so hard!!!    Here are the pictures…

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You can see her tears…

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But her friend Alex had her happy (for a minute)

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waiting and debating  “should I go or not”

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and she is off…

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almost, reach, reach

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and the “I DID IT” Look

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Freestyle

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I love my daughter, she amazes me every day, with her hard work and determination!!!!

Summer Wrap Up

We know when Summer is coming to a close….Bocce area games and peach days.  Chawndell is not a fan of Bocce, I think it is boring for her, but her and her partner did AWESOME!!!  They got the gold medal, and worked so good together!!!!!

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Our cute partners

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and the GOLD Medal goes to…

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Chawndell and Nana, this is a pretty picture

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I love the silliness in these two!  Special!

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daddy painting faces…

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he is such a good sport!!

 

Peach Days is always fun (for me) I love to look at the booths, watch the crazy people and the sound of laughter mixed with the carnival rides.  The high light of the day for Chawndell is the parade, but for some reason she will not smile, not sure why.

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only smiling one I got, right before the parade started.

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Just waiting and waiting for us to start.

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We always ride the float down to the end and walk back up to our car, on our way we visit with friends and family who are watching the parade, Chawndell loves to hold our hand while we walk, so I was able to capture this special moment. 

We made it

through our first week of school. Chawndell seems to like school again this year, and she is working hard.  I LOVE to be at the middle school with her, it is fun to watch her interact with all her school friends. 

The first day of school I really wanted some first day of school pictures and Chawndell was not to willing, but I tried and got some cute ones with her silly smile.

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she has the cutest backside LOL

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this one is from Friday, she wanted her picture taken this day.  Silly girl.

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And now fall is in the air…

One More Week…

and we will be back to the daily life of school.  I can hardly believe it is that time already!!  We have had a fun and busy weekend, I think it is the perfect way to spend these last few days together, not worrying about bed times and wake up times.  Our weekend started out on Thursday morning at the DR. office, I was released from some of my restrictions YEAH I could go swimming and Rafting!!!!  So Friday was the get everything ready, and I some how managed to get Chawndell’s schedule, and get the dreaded school clothes shopping done. 

Lar wanted to be up at the “butt crack before dawn” on Saturday to go on our much antictaped rafting trip.  So we packed all our things Friday night tried to get some sleep and woke up early. 

IT WAS RAINING, BOO!!!!!! When we got up, we went anyway!!  When we got to Idaho and got the tubs filled up the sky’s cleared and we had a BLAST in the river!!!!! Nothing like Fun Family and Great Friends to end our summer!!!

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We had so much fun!!! 

On Sunday Larry made a Smoked Brisket, and let me tell you it was YUMMY!!!!!!   I wish I had some pictures to share!!! 

August already…

Here we are 3 weeks from school starting and I feel like summer is just getting started!!!!  I will miss the lazy mornings, and the cuddling with Chawndell when we go back to school!! 

I DID it, I had my bladder surgery, feels nice to know I can now jump on the tramp and cough or sneeze without peeing myself.  But the recovery is a pain in the butt, I feel fine but, I have to heal so no lifting (so no snuggling my nephew) no vacuuming, Chawndell is getting better at this but I’m must be OCD because she does not do it right.   No mowing the lawn, more OCD in me because bless hubby’s heart, he does not do it right also.  LOL  Let me tell you, I finally had to just them, LEAVE the laundry alone, I will do it.  We will mange, but I will be DEEP DEEP cleaning in 3 weeks to get rid of the grime the family has missed.

I got to see my brothers this weekend, and I have missed them lots!!!!  They had to come to WYO. for a funereal (sad) but we got together at Nick and Katie’s house.  The only one missing was Will but he is touring Europe right now FUN FUN for him!!!!!!  Funny how we are apart so much but when we get together is feels like we were never apart.  I MISS those two sooooo MUCH!!!!!!!  SO sad that I have yet to meet my new niece, and my other nephews and nieces are growing up not knowing us. 

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Jayson and Chawndell, these two are more like brother and sister than uncle and niece. This is what they did all day.  FUN TIMES

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and sweet uncle E, he is the cuddler and the lover!!!! (tears in my eyes, I miss my brothers)  It is amazing how each of my brothers have a special place in Chawndells heart. 

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Chawndell and Ranger, always loving on each other, really sweet, they love each other, I had NO idea I could LOVE someone as much as I love my own daughter but I love this little guy!!!!!  Amazing how nephew's and nieces do that to you, worm their way into your heart!!!

Chawndell is playing Bocce and Swimming this year for Special Olympics.  Bocce is a not a favorite but she is being a good sport about it.  Now Swimming is her FAVORIE she will tell you she is a FISH.  I think she has her first crush, there is a cute boy in Special Olympics that she really really likes and he likes her also.  He walks by our house on his way home from work, (we are a little bit out of his way) one day Chawndell gave him a beaded bracelet that she made, and he, bless his adorable heart gave her a feather.  They are way too cute!!!!

Chawdell is going into the 9th grade, I cant believe my little girl is all grown up!!!  I will be working at the middle school with her this year, and I’m sooooo excited.  We will get to ride to school together, and I can be the snoopy mom and check up on her.

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We went for a ride up to Idaho, it is pretty where we went, when the doctor tells me I’m free, we are going camping, and river rafting. 

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Isn't Snickers the cutest cat?

I’m going to try to be a better blogger, It is hard for me to write, I never know what to say, and I think we must have a boring life, it seems like we are just doing things around the house, and I’m not sure you all would like to here about that. Maybe I need to take a writing class, or a blogging class to that I can learn to tell a story instead of just a bunch of rambling stuff. 

Summer Time = Busy Time

We are having so much fun this Summer with Family and Friends!!  Chawndell, Larry and I spent a week with my brother and his family in Wyoming, I had so much fun LOVING on my adorable nephew Ranger.  Larry has been going to Wyoming for a while working, so Chawndell and I had to spend some time with him.  We celebrated Chawndell’s birthday while we were up there, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate tuning 15.  When we came home we had a FUN time at the pool with friends celebrating Chawndell.  We have been canaling, swimming, BBQing, sleeping, and enjoying our friends!!!!  It is hard to believe school is 6 weeks away, I hate that time fly’s by this fast. 

Next week I will be having bladder surgery, I’m kind of excited but nervous at the same time, it will be nice to have it fixed but the recovery time is long.  I will miss out on some fun, but in the long run it will be better for me. 

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This was a HUGE rain storm that lasted maybe 5 min.

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4th of July at the park, waiting for the fire works.  MY Chawndell is soooo PRETTY!  I LOVE her so MUCH!!

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and now on to my Ranger…

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Happy Happy Birthday Girl…

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YUM!!!  Chawndell and her Birthday Cake that her Favorite Aunt Katie got for her.

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arnt these two the CUTIEST!!!!!!!  They LOVE each other!!!

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Brave Uncle Nick teaching Chawndell how to drive!!!!!

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Just enjoying the swing….

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Swimming FUN!!

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and now a cool thing for Brigham City, Angel Moroni on the New LDS temple.

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Happy July Everyone!!!!!!!