Aug 26

Just Call Me Farmer Leila

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When I was 10, I used to dream of having a pig farm. Really. I read a book on how to raise pigs and my Dad took me to a real live pig farm after I’d read the book five times. Don’t I have the best dad? It’s okay, you can be jealous. He IS the best ever.

Now that I’m a grown up, the dreams have changed a little, but I’ve finally got a pig. Well, sort of. His name is Reece. He’s no relation to my brother – and his name is certainly NOT a fat joke. But my brother Reece has his very own (real) pig farm – of one pig named Cabbage – and I thought it was only fitting that my city pig have a connection to Reece (my brother). Reece has also read the pig farming book. I doubt it will be quite as helpful for my little pig as for his, but I’ve come up with a few of my own suggestions for healthy pig raising in KC. Well, “a few” might be stretching it. I really just have one: Feed Often.

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Aug 01

Just Call Me An Antique

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Wahoo! Today I’m celebrating. Well, actually I’m celebrating all month, because that’s how I roll. I highly recommend that when you have a birthday, you celebrate all month too. I can’t take credit for that brilliant idea. It’s a suggestion I got from a friend of mine a long time ago and it means the month of August totally rocks every year. I’ve officially reached “antique” status. For those of you who don’t speak the language of my 2.0, that means I’m now 25 years old. Don’t fault her for the whole “antique” thing – she’s only 11, so 25 is bound to sound ancient.

There are so many blessings in my life! In honor of turning 25 today, I thought I’d list 25 things that I’m grateful for. Yep, this is going to be a long list. Deal with it – it’s my party, and I’ll write what I want to.

  1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and my membership in His Church
  2. Mom
  3. Dad
  4. Alisha
  5. Logan
  6. Jessie
  7. Reece
  8. Wade
  9. Sam
  10. Cassie
  11. My law degree from BYU
  12. Running my own law firm
  13. Living in KCMO
  14. Cute running clothes
  15. The color blue – that totally bright, really happy blue.
  16. Cupcakes
  17. Country music - Trace Adkins, Carrie Underwood, Justin Moore, Jason Aldean, Jaron & the Long Road to Love… all those good people.
  18. Four Inch Heels
  19. The Piano
  20. Scented Candles
  21. Calla Lilies
  22. Italian Food
  23. Texas Roadhouse Rolls
  24. Men who open doors
  25. Big dreams. And little dreams. Just all sorts of dreams.

I picked up a card a little while ago. There’s a quote on it and it’s how I’m determined to live. “This is your world. Shape it or someone else will.”

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Jul 31

Don’t You Think I Look Like Dad?

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Yesterday my parents celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary. In this day and age, that’s a pretty remarkable accomplishment in and of itself. Add in the fact that they still like each other? Well, that’s priceless. Mom still calls Dad “Boyfriend” (he’s even saved in her cellphone as that – like he doesn’t have another name or something) and my Dad is still crazy about her. He’s even learned to instant message so that he can hang out with her when he’s gone at work. They talk – and it’s more than just “please pass the salt.” I know there are at least eight people in this world that are thrilled that my parents still like each other. (Besides them of course.) No prizes for guessing who. Since there are no prizes, I can tell you who we are – Me, Alisha, Logan, Jessie, Reece, Wade, Sam and Cassie. Maybe I should’ve offered prizes. Reece might be inclined to remember who we all are then.

Dad’s in Brazil right now – it made taking Mom out on a date last night kind of difficult for him. Don’t worry, he’s not a slacker – he’s got plans for when he gets back. Mom was cool about him being at work. After all, having a job’s kind of important when you’re supporting a family. HOWEVER, we couldn’t really let the day go uncelebrated. A waterfall in the living room (don’t ask – just be appreciative when your roof doesn’t decide to leak during a rainstorm) cut a big chunk of time out of our lives, but we still had enough time to do SOMETHING.

My Dad has two favorite restaurants – Ma & Pa’s Kettle and The Rib Crib. He’s a country guy. What can we say? When he’s out of the country, Mom and I NEVER go to either one. They aren’t really our style. (Mom is NOT a country girl.) Except last night. We did their anniversary just like they’d do a normal date night* for them – dinner at Ma & Pa’s and a movie at the local theater. It was almost like Dad was there.

And yes Dad, before you ask – I made sure to get Mom’s door.

*Dad’s already got “real” anniversary plans for when he gets back that are a departure from the normal routine, so I didn’t spoil anything, don’t worry.

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Jun 20

Love My Daddy Best

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You know, you’re not really supposed to have “favorites” when it comes to love. Our family had a whole FHE lesson on how loving children was like loving candy bars with unlimited money – you wouldn’t just pick one, and you’d love them all. It’s not like you would be limited to loving one candy bar. Yes, seriously, we really had a lesson like that. Reece maintains that he must be the favorite child, given that he was actually NAMED after a candy bar. How embarrassing then, that we spelled his name wrong. So much for the favorite child. You’d think that parents who give that kind of FHE lesson would apply the same sort of idea to parents. You’d be surprised.

I’m the oldest kid in our family, and I didn’t come along until my parents had been married for 3 years. They thought they’d maybe never get to have any kids. (Bet you’re surprised about that one, eight kids later!) When I was little, I was definitely a daddy’s girl, and my Dad knew it. Just in case anyone else forgot it, he taught me to say “Love my Daddy best.” So much for the whole candy bar theory, right? Thank goodness my Mom was patient with him.

Cassie’s got me beat though.  This week, she made “Love my Daddy best” seem like very. small. potatoes. She and Dad were doing dishes this week when I walked in on their conversation.

Cassie: “Dad, I’m going to be SO spoiled when I’m looking for a husband, because I’m going to want him to be as good looking and as hardworking as you. I’m not going to find ANYONE like that.”

Dad: “Well, it’s not time for that yet. But when it is, you’ll find someone.”

Cassie: “Oh, no I won’t. I will be too picky because of you.”

On Father’s Day today, I’m counting my blessings that I’ve got my Dad. He’s the best man I know, hands down. So even though Cassie’s got me beat, I’ll say it today – I love my Daddy best.

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May 18

I Heart Man Night

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This past weekend my family had a man night. Yes, you read that right. My family- girls included – had a “man” night. And that might not make sense to you. “Man” night doesn’t sound like it would involve GIRLS, I know. But really, doesn’t that make it the ULTIMATE man night? Wade picked out what we’d eat, Mom made it (it’s nice having a girl along to do the cooking), and we watched a “kill movie,” otherwise known as an “action movie.” I took pictures of it all. (Sorry for the blurriness… I’m still waiting for a flash to magically appear on my iPhone. Maybe it will come out with one on the next iPhone. Which I am totally getting.)

Reece summed up our collective feelings on man night the next morning when we were cleaning up the carnage. ”I heart man night.”

Me too, Reece. Me too.

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May 09

Let Me Count The Ways

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Okay, so I know I told you I was the baddest bad apple of the Christensen family. I lied. Yes, I am admitting it right here in print, to be googled and everything. Actually, I didn’t REALLY lie. I just didn’t explain myself fully. Or, as Logan puts it, I told you a “really good story” and just didn’t tell you if it was true or not. (Yes, he can say that with a straight face. Don’t ask me how.)

My MOM is the baddest bad apple in our house. Since she wasn’t born a Christensen, I can still claim to be the baddest bad apple of the Christensen family. (Like that argument? It’s a little flimsy for a lawyer, but I’ll argue it anyway.) We all love her. You want reasons? We’ve got them. And much like the Alisha post, this is from everyone.

  • She dances in the kitchen.
  • And in the living room.
  • And in her studio.
  • And anywhere else. What can we say? She’s got rhythm, and when she hears a good song, she can’t help but move. It’s a trait she passed on. Everyone dances at our house. Except Dad. Obviously, he was not so lucky to have Mom pass on that gene to him. It just doesn’t work that way.
  • She’s fun to sit on.  In fact, this is Reece’s favorite thing to do. I’m not positive that it’s Mom’s favorite thing, but she humors him. She even tells him he’s her favorite child. That is, of course, a lie. *I* am her favorite child.
  • She’s a rockstar. Especially after she gets her hair done. And yes, she can totally do the headbanging moves. If you’ve ever seen Alisha or Cassie, this is also a genetic trait.
  • She let us have cake on Sunday for breakfast when I was growing up. You know, so we’d look forward to Sundays. Since we couldn’t play outside or do other weekday sort of things, it was definitely a bonus. Sometimes we’d have ice cream instead of cake. And sometimes we’d have both. (And sometimes we still do that sort of thing. We love Sundays at our house.)
  • She’s an excellent painter. And she’s used us for models for a lot of her paintings. Except for Logan and Reece, who are not quite as beautiful as the rest of us. Or they just won’t hold still long enough. You be the judge.
  • She’ll stay up all night talking to us. Or she’ll stay up all night working on a project. She’s a night owl. I definitely did NOT get that gene. Samantha and Reece, on the other hand, definitely got it. Jealous.
  • She loves our Dad. Like crazy. We know, who wouldn’t?

You can see, there are all sorts of reasons that she’s the baddest bad apple. We could keep going, but we’d be at it all day. And since it’s Mother’s Day, we’re trying to spend a little bit of it with her. We love her. What more can we say?

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Apr 22

I Look Good All The Time

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There is an appropriate form to doing a push up. Don’t believe me? Well, maybe you would if MY dad had laughed at YOU when he saw you perform a push up. Not that I’m bitter or anything. Really. I just waited until he was out of the country to attempt another one. You see, there’s a cool app on the iPhone (well, there are LOTS of cool apps, but I’m only talking about one) that says it can get me to be able to do 100 consecutive push ups in six weeks. My initial test (of consecutive push ups) is not quite so impressive – I was at a measly 21. (My dad can do 50 without even thinking about it. Show off.)

I was so nervous about my push up form that I made my brother Logan (who appears in this blog a lot, but he’s family and can’t help it) watch me so that he could give me pointers. Unlike me, Logan does an excellent push up and dad has never laughed at him. At least about push ups. (Are you seeing a pattern with Logan here? Good photographer, good push ups… some people have all the luck.) After informing me (LISTEN Dad) that I was doing an (I quote!) “EXCELLENT” push up, Logan showed me how I could work my chest more by moving my hands closer into my body. Of course, he had to demonstrate so I could see what he was talking about.

My brother looks good when he does a push up. When I told him (someone’s got to let him know – you know, so when a really hot girl walks by he can drop down and start doing push ups so that she’ll pay attention), he looked at me and deliberately. said. “I look good ALL the time.”

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Apr 02

Reason No. 6439: We Hula Hoop In The Living Room

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Attention Alisha: If this doesn’t convince you to move to Missouri, we really don’t know what will. Take a look at our adventures. (Dad, don’t look. This is what we do when you’re out of the country. We promise to put the furniture back before you get home.)

Just in case you were wondering (and if you were wondering, you obviously have never been to our house), we are not just posing for pictures – we really had hula hoops out tonight in our living room. We all took turns. After all, three hula hoops take up an awful lot of room! Mom even got in on it. But don’t worry – I still reminded them all who the oldest (i.e. MOST powerful and DEFINITELY in charge) is. In the words of Reece – That’s. What’s. Up.

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Feb 19

A Girls Night… PLUS “The Man”

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I was on kid duty tonight. A voluntary thing, let me assure you. I like spending time with my siblings. Since Mom, Jess & Logan wanted to go see “Dear John” (I already saw it and enjoyed it – I LOVE Channing Tatum), I offered to watch the kids. Reece was away on a camping trip (who goes camping in the snow anyway?), so it was the 2.0s , Wade and I. Dad is in Brazil, but he gets back soon, wahoo!

At first we said we’d have a “girls night plus Wade.” He quickly corrected us – we were going to have a “girls night plus THE MAN.” And we did – a little popcorn, a movie, cupcakes and some nail polish. (The Man skipped out on the nail polish.)

This isn’t the first time this week that Wade has cracked me up. Mom and I were hanging out at the table while all the boys were being their usual crazy selves.  I said we needed to think of a word to describe them – without skipping a beat, Wade had one. “Sexy.” And then he walked out of the room.

Can I just tell you I love my life? Really, how could I not?

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Feb 10

I Heart You

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Yes, I said “heart.” NOT “hate”! Please make sure you’re listening. (Ahem. Reece.) For all of you that are oblivious to the month of February, Valentine’s Day is coming up. At FHE this week (you’ve heard about FHE before), our family talked about L-O-V-E.

My first memories of Valentine’s Day involved special Valentines on our kitchen table surrounded by great treats. (Thanks Mom!) For a couple of years, I didn’t realize that Valentine’s Day was a “romantic love” sort of holiday – I just thought it was a day where everyone made sure to tell the people they loved that they loved them. Really, you should be doing that on a pretty regular basis – how sad would it be if you saved all your telling for one day a year?!? I know that I’d never have enough time to make sure that everyone I loved knew it.

In the spirit of the holiday, this Monday night my siblings, mom and I spent the night making hearts for each other. (Dad is in Brazil, or he would have been making them too, don’t worry. He still likes us. Why on earth do you think he goes to work every other month?) We put them up on the doors in our house so that we’d all remember how much we love each other. (Kind of like texting - except better.)

Here are a few of my favorites…

Is it any wonder I heart my family?

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