At the close of 2010

I am very grateful for my many blessings as the year comes to a close. I am expecially grateful for my family. Chris is a wonderful husband and the kids are the joys of my life. I am grateful that we are a Forever Family and that our home is more than a sanctuary; it is a place where we feel God's spirit, where love reigns and peace dwells. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids enjoyed doing the 12 days of Christmas just like they always do. We had a nice phone call with Peter. He is doing really well and loving Missionary work. He has developed an islander accent with a bit of a Southern Utah drawl. He is homesick for the people of Alinglaplap but is enjoying his new area too. The kids were all very excited Christmas Morning. Caiti got her bike and was so excited she was outside riding it before the sun was even up. Adam was surprised to get his Nintendo DS and just kept saying "I can't believe I finally have one of these" He played game after game most of the day. The big boys all got new paintball guns and took their dad out to play. He had as much fun as they did. Chris came home with a large welt on his stomache and a huge smile on his face. I guess we know what to get him for Father's Day! We had a great time being together and enjoying the Christmas Spirit. We are all grateful for the Savior and the testimonies we have of his divinity and for the blessings of the atonement. The whole family got Preach My Gospel booklets that we are going to use for scripture study this next year so that we can grow even closer to HIM.

Caiti's first piano recital

Caiti has been taking piano lessons for a few months from Kathie Griffin, she is doing really well and was excited to play "Jingle Bells" for the piano recital. She did a great job and looked lovely in her Christmas dress. After her recital we raced our Santa sleighs on long tables off the stage since it was to wet and muddy to race them at the park this year.

Christmas Plays

Adam and Caiti where both in the elementary school's Christmas play. "Christmas at the OK Corral" Adam played the part of Scoop the ice cream shop owner. Caiti was part of the chorus. Caleb's drama class did a "Fractured Fairytale" he was the principal and had fun dressing up like his dad. He was also cast as a singing telegram guy and enjoyed how obnoxious that part was. They all did a great job.

Christmas is just around the Corner

We started a new tradition a couple of years ago to spend a weekend in St. George going to the temple, seeing the live Nativity at Tuachan and taking the kids Christmas shopping. We had a fun weekend being together and staying at the temple cottage. The weather was very wet and rainy so the live nativity was cancelled but we enjoyed a yummy dinner at Outback and then walked around the temple grounds. Alex took the kids Christmas shopping while we went to the temple the next day and then we all went shopping together too. It was nice just being together and to feel more ready to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We had dinner with the Christensen side of the family and my mom came along too, so we had the best of both worlds. Like always there was tons of food. We had a good time just being together. The kids had a blast with their cousins and hated to see the day end. They always wish that we lived closer when we have a chance to play with cousins. We had a baby shower for Natalie while everyone was together. She is due close to my birthday with a little girl. I took some pics but can's seem to find them on the computer, I think I may have accidently deleted them. Just know that they showed us all with an "Attitude of Gratitude"

Samples from recent letters from Peter

This is a picture of us watching Conference at the mission home. Last
weekend we all watched General Conference in Marshallese. It was
actually fun. I could understand what was being said but it
was very hard. It took full concentration and I was mentally worn out
when it was all said and done. Luckily as a mission we watched all
the sessions in English except priesthood. So I saw every session
except priesthood in my native tongue. However, the best part about
conference was the way it helped the missionary work. Elder
Cherrington saw it as a good opportunity to share the gospel and so we
made conference schedules and gave them to anyone and everyone. We
handed out 34 schedules to random people and then bore testimony of
Thomas S. Monson. It definitely helped build my testimony. However
the best part of the whole thing was that our investigators and recent
converts all came and were just caught up in the spirit of conference.


Halloween is entertaining in the Marshall Islands. About nine
o'clock the kids stormed our house chanting happy happy halloween to
the tune of London Bridges. Then a riot started the kids
started coming inside about twenty of them. I started telling them to
not come in and they began demanding food. We panicked and began
giving them everything we had there was just a mass of children
screaming and we would throw food in the the mass and they would
demand more. We gave them all the candy grandma sent, a bunch of gum,
our personal candy, and just started throwing cereal at them however,
they wouldn't leave. Finally after a bout 20 minutes of this they
backed away from the door enough that we could shut it and we were
saved. It was hilarious and stressfull at the same time I thought I
was going to die. However, the kids wouldn't back down they began
pounding on the door screaming so finally we just locked it and went
to bed.


Cute primary girls from the Rita ward.