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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Jun 03

My Dates Would Be A Whole Lot Cheaper

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If I didn’t spend so much time with the same three guys. Yes, three. You recognize them. Or you should. Just call them a girl’s perfect date – they open doors, love the music that plays in my car, make me laugh, and are generally up for anything. The only downside is that I tend to foot the bill. But they tend to do all the heavy lifting that I ever need. Moving twice? They were so there. Carrying loads of files? I never even have to ask. So it evens out. Plus they’re cheap – but not in that skanky sort of way, don’t worry. Cheap, like I can take them to Sonic and they are totally satisfied.

You call them Logan, Reece and Wade. At the house, we call them “Wolverine” (have you seen Logan’s chest? it’s totally like Hugh Jackman’s), “Cowboy Casanova” (cuing Carrie Underwood this instant), and “GQ Romeo” (who should need no explanation, but if you’d like one, look here).

My brothers keep me grounded. In fact, they’ve got their own nickname for me – “Average Sue Leila.” Sounds kind of weird, huh? I mean, I’d heard of an “Average Joe” before, but I’d never heard of an “Average Sue” before they came up with that genius. We were out having burgers or something, when I told them they needed to work on their manners. After all, I’m a classy lady and they were out with me. They took the opportunity to let me know that at that moment, I wasn’t a “big time city slicker lawyer” – I was just a regular “Average Joe” out with my brothers. Then they thought that “Average Joe” didn’t really fit, being that I’m a girl and all, thus “Average Sue” was born. My name was added to prevent any confusion. So if you’re looking for a big-time city slicker lawyer, don’t look for her when she’s out with these boys. You’ll be looking an awful long time.*

*This is, of course, assuming that they are not in trouble themselves, in which case, you will totally find the big-time city slicker lawyer out with them. A girl’s still got to watch out for her family, don’t you think?

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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 27

Reece’s Last Stand

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I totally took down Sam tonight. Okay, maybe bragging about taking down an 11 year old should be above me. “Should be” is the key phrase. We ARE almost the same height, if that makes any difference. But she’s fast – I was pretty proud of myself for catching her. We all played capture the flag tonight – Logan, Jessie, Reece, Wade, Sam, Cassie and I. It’s so nice having a family big enough to play a game like that. (And personally, I think the “little kids” are awfully lucky that they have such bad apple older siblings who are willing to play with them. “Little kids” is what we used to call Reece, Wade, Sam and Cassie. Now that Reece and Wade are both bigger than me – and the 2.0s are getting close! – it seems like it doesn’t really fit.)

Let me lay it out for you – Reece, Wade, and I versus Logan, Jessie and the 2.0s. We had a definite strategy on our team. (Of course, laying it out here might put us at a disadvantage for next time, but I’m pretty sure that they caught onto what we were doing.) Basically, I guarded OUR flag and the boys went after THEIR flag. And we captured their flag three times. It was when we varied from that strategy that we ran into problems. (It could have had something to do with the fact that Jessie wasn’t around for the first two games either, but Logan and the 2.0s should have been able to take us.)

You see, I’m not faster than Logan. Have you seen that man? What was I thinking? Of course, at the same time I was thinking that I could be faster than Logan, Wade also thought he was faster than Jessie. And most of the time Wade is. But somehow Jessie caught him. (Don’t worry Wade, I’m sure it was a fluke.)

Enter Reece’s last stand. Surprisingly enough, he lasted for quite awhile against the four of them while Wade and I watched. Finally I got up and took a few pictures – totally against the rules, but really, what were they going to do about it? He did look a little crazed by the time they were done with him. See his picture above if you don’t believe me. And see the rest of our pictures to see how much fun we all have together. (ALISHA, this is reason number 2491.)

PS – Notice that Sam and I ARE really close to the same height.

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Apr 23

I’m The Baddest Bad Apple

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We’re a tough looking bunch, aren’t we? Well let me tell you – I’m the baddest bad apple of them all. These two rough-and-ready rednecks follow MY lead. Why do you think I’m in the middle? (You might think it was so that I could look extra small – and you might be right – but work with me here.)

My brothers are some pretty bad apples themselves. Flat tire? Logan’s got it changed in five minutes. (This happened about a week ago.) Files to carry in? Reece meets me at the car when I pull in. (This is more of an everyday occurrence.) Ice water needs? Wade’s all over it. (I never even have to ask.) And no, you’re not missing Wade in this picture. He was inside working hard when we were outside (goofing off) working hard. We’ll get him to pose another time, I’m sure. If you can’t tell, the “poser” gene is alive and well in the Christensen family.

It’s so nice to be part of a family that LIKES each other. Reece said it best the other night when we were hanging out making up our own version of Nickelback songs until 11 o’clock at night. “We pretty much won the lottery when we were born. We got OUR family, we were born in America, and we’re members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” I agree. I’ve got everything I need right here. With all my bad apples.

PS – Ask Reece to sing for you sometime… he totally rocked his own version of Nickelback’s “Never Gonna Be Alone.” In all fairness though, you should really have Logan and Reece sing together. One of these days I’m going to record them when they’re not paying attention. Then I’ll blog about it – no reason to keep that all to myself!

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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 09

It’s OBVIOUS You Are A Lawyer

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I’ve got a boyfriend. Technically, I can blog about him since he’s not really just a single date. Remember my rule? I don’t blog about guys I date. However, when you move to boyfriend territory, I think you start becoming susceptible… Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. As long as we protect his identity, I’m totally fine blogging about him. Let’s just refer to him as “T2.” After all, that’s our shorthand for him at the Christensen house.

So T2 is in the Air Force. (But if you’re actually in the Air Force, you refer to it as “USAF.” Oh yeah, I’m learning new things all the time. The USAF uses acronyms all over the place. I think it’s to confuse us civilians. Thank goodness for google. And wikipedia. You can even find the “official” version of things. I love the internet.) Right now, T2 is stationed in England. His dad – T1 – introduced us when he was on leave. To say I appreciate the introduction would be an understatement.

Anyway, since T2′s so far away (4250 miles in fact), I try and make sure he gets to be a part of my life here in Missouri. (Skype is a beautiful thing. So is Vonage.) Today I roped my brother Logan (who is totally identified in this blog multiple places and is not protected by any sort of code) into taking some pictures for me so that I could have a few for T2. Logan is a GREAT photographer. I, however, am not so good. In fact, after I took some shots of him, Logan informed me “Well, it’s obvious you are a lawyer.” Then, just in case I missed his implied meaning, he spelled it out for me. His advice? “You should stay a lawyer. You’d never make it as a photographer.”

What can I say? It’s nice having family that looks out for you.

PS – Humor me, and take a look at this picture of Logan. Do you really think it’s so bad?

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Mar 25

Logan and Alisha

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Every so often, my brothers and sisters make me laugh. Well, it’s more like “often” instead of “every so often.” You could also say “frequently.” If you’re looking for more words, use the thesaurus.

Anyway, I was in the kitchen this week listening to Logan talking on the phone to Alisha. They’re only eleven and a half months apart – for those of you who aren’t math (or pregnancy) geniuses, that means for two weeks they’re the same age. Fun, huh? (Well, maybe not so fun if you were my mom. But fun now that they’re older.)

This is the conversation I walked into:

Logan: But you like olives!  I remember you used to put them on your fingers and eat them!

Quiet for two seconds while he listens to Alisha.

Logan: Oh, that’s right.  You used to put them on your fingers and I would eat them.

It made me laugh. The greatest part? The conversation seemed perfectly normal.

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Mar 06

The Animals Came Alive

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Just kidding. The animals didn’t come alive – the 2.0s and I were smart enough to go to the museum during the day. (What, you’ve never seen Night at the Museum? Well, WE have and WE played it safe.)

I’ve discovered it’s easy to keep the title of “BEST SISTER EVER.” No, I did not give myself that title. I totally earned it. Just ask the little girls, who proclaimed it today. (Sorry Alisha and Jessie. I’m the oldest, and I’m likely to keep it.) Today, the rest of our family (minus Logan, who had to study, and Alisha, who is busy in Utah compiling reasons that she should NOT move to Missouri) headed to Nebraska today to attend the Winter Quarters Temple. (Alisha, you can’t count the long drive to a temple as reason number 1309 because we are getting a temple in KC. Scratch that off your list.) Once a temple’s dedicated, you need a recommend to attend it, and little kids can’t get recommends.  You can find out more about temples here or here, if you’re curious. The temple in KC will have an open house for whoever wants to come see it before it’s dedicated.

Since Sam and Cassie can’t go yet, someone had to keep an eye on them. I volunteered and we decided we’d make a girls day of it. It was SO fun! The 2.0s put together a soundtrack for our adventures (iTunes is a wonderful thing), we put it in the CD player, and we were off to Kansas City. They got to check out my new office (loved it!), went to Union Station (to pick up my mail, but they thought it was the coolest building ever), to the Nelson-Atkins (my favorite museum in KC, which is now their favorite too), and to Miller Park (where we ate the picnic they prepared and they ran around for ages). It. Was. Great.

And the whole “best sister ever”? Don’t tell the girls, but I already know who really has the title. Here’s a hint – it’s a tie between four people. Alisha, Jessie, Sam and Cassie have me all beat. For now though, I’ll claim it. After all, isn’t that the point of being the oldest?

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