Lexi's First Day of Swim Lessons

Today was Lexi's first day of swim lessons.

She is the Clown Fish Class with her cousin Parker.

(It's just the second class above the Mommy and Me class, it's for kids 3-5 years old) .

It's so fun that they could do swim lessons together!
I had to get a few pictures of them before they got in the pool.

Parker didn't understand why I had to take pictures, he'll get used to it soon enough.

 Cute. 

A hugging picture!

Avery was so upset that I didn't bring her swimsuit and that she wasn't getting into the pool.

She took off her dress and eventually shoes and refused to let me put them back on her.

Next time, she will be wearing a onesie.

Here they are already for class to start.

Lexi looks so serious.

She get shy and a little stressed in new situations and around unfamiliar people.

But she warmed up and did great with her new teacher.

 Lexi and Parker stayed by each other pretty much the whole time.

They were so well behaved. When it wasn't their turn for one-on-one time with the teacher, 

they just sat on the steps while the other kids splashed and wondered off the steps.

Lexi did great. 

She seemed to be enjoying herself and seemed to be pretty comfortable in the water.

Her teacher did say that Lexi need to work on kicking.

She needs to kick from her hips. Right now her legs are a little tense.

Parker did good too. He only got water in his mouth/ nose once.

Michelle said he's improved a lot since last summer.

The have lessons Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next few weeks.
It will be fun to watch them learn and improve!
 

 For fun here's the post I did about Lexi's first day of swim lessons last June.
 

Starting Our Utah Temple Tour

 Lexi and I are both really excited that we live by so many temples now.

We want to go see them all.

...

I have an idea of making a temple scrapbook.

I'm gonna print out pictures of our family at all the different temples we've gone too.

...

First on our tour, was the Jordan River temple.
This temple is a 5 minute drive from our house.

Lexi told me it's her new favorite.

Today we went as a family to the Oquirrh Mountain temple, 

which is about a 10 minute drive from our hosue.

This temple reminded Sean and I of Rexburg.

 I want a better picture of the girls for our scrapbook,

so I guess we're going back :)

I just had to share the next few pictures of Avery. They really show off her personality.

It's a gorgeous temple.

I can't wait to go inside it!

And this picture is just funny.

Next, Lexi wants to go see the Salt Lake and the Drapery temple, as she calls it.

Just Because

 Check out these cuties, already to go swimming.

The Bobs

Today the girls got their hair cut.

I think Lexi just looks better with short hair.
And although, I loved Avery's hair long, she just isn't a girl meant for long hair.

She wouldn't let me comb it, style it, and she always got food in it.

So, I decided it was time for some summer bobs.

...

BEFORE

Lexi sat still and was so cooperative.

I think it was mostly due to the fact that she is really shy around strangers and in unfamiliar situations.

 

AFTER

LOVE IT!!!

This was Avery's first haircut ever.

I was sad it see her beautiful Rapunzel hair get go.

...

BEFORE

Avery doesn't like strangers and she doesn't like getting her hair combed so she was not a happy girl.

 We distracted her with bubbles and candy.

AFTER

Doesn't she look so much older?!

Sean and I both love her hair and are happy we cut it

but she just doesn't look like the same kid anymore.

 Happy to be done!

 The Bobs.

Good Bye New Mexico!

 Last month we loading up everything we own and said good bye 

to Albuquerque, our home for the last two years.

We are grateful for the experiences and strength we gained from heading out on our own 

so far away from family, friends and anyway that we know.

We made some amazing friends, who I hope we will stay in touch with for the rest of our lives.

...

Here we are all loaded up and ready to go.

(Compare to the picture of us leaving Rexburg two years ago.)

 

Our awesome brother-in-law Justin flew down to help us move.

It was great to have the extra help and driver.

Justin is one of Sean's best friends so we're so excited to live so close to him now

(He and Sean's sister Michelle and their two kids live a mile from us here in West Jordan).

And here's us with the Blackers.

Nathan and Lizi were the best neighbors ever!

Lizi and I hung out pretty much daily.

Our kids loved each other and she was my best friend.

I already miss her!

 

The drive went smoothly.

Lexi threw up all over herself.

Our check engine light turned on once which worried us a little.

But other than that it was just a really long, boring drive.

...

Once we got to Utah we had so much help moving in.

We had family and friends help us move in, unpack and organize.

Yeah, we have AMAZING friends!

...

Here is a picture of our new living room.

 

And our new kitchen.

 

And the most exciting part of our new place, our own laundry room with a washer and dryer!!!

 Moving was exhausting. For everyone!

 We are so happy to be here in Utah.

It has felt like we're on vacation because we have been having so much fun

 and hanging out with so much family and friends.

We love our apartment. 

I will have to post some pictures soon (but first I have to make it picture worthy).

...

And most of all, I'm so grateful the move from New Mexico was a million times better than 

the move to New Mexico.

Dudes! Dudes! Dudes!

 That's right we're gonna have TWO dudes in our house now!
WE'RE HAVING A BOY!!!

Sean will no long be the lone man in the house full of too much estrogen, dresses, pink and drama.

Our little man is healthy and measuring just a little bit big or ahead of schedule.

And we've already picked a name...

Eli Bentley Christensen

His name comes from our maternal (mom's side) grandfathers.

Mine, Calvin Eli and Sean's, Bryce Bentley.

I'm so excited to be naming our son after two men that we love 

and have looked up to our whole lives.

 ...

Lexi has wanted another baby sister since before she knew I was pregnant.

So when we found out we are having a boy, we knew we needed to do something really exciting

when we told the girls.

So we got them each several balloons and put them in two big boxes.

I wanted all blue balloons but the lady at the store decided to make it confusing

 and use yellow and green balloons.

Here's the video of them opening their boxes.

 

Avery had no clue what was going on but she was excited about the balloons.

And now when we talk about the baby Avery says, "baby lie" or "baby boy."

And once Lexi found out she was going to have a brother she got pretty excited.

She always is talking about how much she loves Eli and how cute and chubby he is going to be.

And she tells me all the time that Eli is going to cry for just her and want just her sometimes.

  

  

And of course, I had to share some pictures of Eli.

Look at his cute little side profile!

 

When we were told we were having a boy, I asked how sure they were.

We were told, "100% boy, unless his thing falls off."

So there you have it, he's all boy!

 It still doesn't seem really real that we're having a boy.

We haven't bought Eli a thing yet but I am starting to look at little boy clothes now 

whenever we go to the store.

And I am planning on making some cute little blankets.

Journals

If you haven't noticed, I've added pages to our blog.

Look over at the upper right hand corner.

Click on the links to the girls' journals and you'll be able to read the funny things they say and do 

and about milestones in their lives.

I'm going through my old blog post and adding to their journals.

So the older years are not complete yet.

It's been really fun to go back and read all the old blog post I've done.

It's made me realize how much my girls have grown and changed.

And it's really made me miss having a baby.

(Good thing one is on the way!)

Weekly Menu

I have a lot to blog about.

We love our new apartment.

We love being so close to family and friends.

I feel like we're on vacation because we have been busy having so much fun!

I'll post pictures soon.

...

In the mean time, here's our menu for the upcoming week.

I'm posting this more for me than anyone else.

But in case you're curious, here's what we're gonna be eating...

Tomorrow - Grilled BBQ chicken and salad (lettuce, tomato, boiled eggs, cheddar cheese, beets, craisins, carrots, peas, and whatever else we have on hand.

Sunday - Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken 

Monday - Combined FHE and dinner with the Searles. We're having kabobs (chicken, shrimp, beef, tomatoes, pineapple, onion, peppers, etc). For dessert I'm making a chocolate pudding pie:

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) Chocolate Instant Pudding

1-1/2 cups  cold milk

1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust

About 2 cups Cool Whip

Directions:

Beat pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 min.; spoon half into crust. 

Stir 1 cup Cool Whip into remaining pudding; spoon over pudding layer in crust. 

Top with remaining Cool Whip. Refrigerate 3 hours. 

Tuesday - Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole (This is a new recipe for me)

Wednesday - (I must be feeling adventurous because this is another new recipe) BBQ Pork Chops and Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Thursday - Lazy Night. AKA left overs or breakfast or grilled cheese.

Friday - Meatballs with Cream Sauce and Rice (Also a new recipe but EVERYTHING that I've friend from the Farm Girl's blog has been AMAZING)

Saturday - Left overs (EASY!!!)

Sunday (Father's Day) - Omelets for breakfast (Eggs, sausage, tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc). For Dinner Hamburgers on the grill (we love our grill!) and french fries. And I'll come up with something awesome for dessert.

A Heartbroken Family and a Way to Help

Recently my friend Aubrey posted on Facebook
that one of her friends died from childbirth complications.

I didn't really think that happened anymore in the United States.

Alice contracted a horrible infection, strep A toxic shock which ended up taking her life. 

She left behind her husband, their two little boys and their newborn daughter.

I cannot imagine the heartache that family is experiencing,
especially yesterday on Mother's Day.

You can go here to Alice's sister-in-law's blog where there has been a fund set up for the family.

You can donate through through Paypal, credit card, or e-check.

Click here to go to their blog.

Pregnancy Update

 I recently decided that I think we're having a boy.

My reasons: 

- I lost weight in the beginning of my pregnancy, which I never did with my girls 

(I am still actually a pound liter than before I got pregnant, even though I don't look it)

-This baby seems to be a lot lower than my girls were 

(it could just be that it's my third child and they are just down and ready to go a lot quicker)

-I am having some ligament pain in my lower abdomen

-I am eating a lot

-And I've had two girls so it's probably time I had a boy

-Sean's gut instinct was that it's a boy and hit gut instinct was right both times before

Lexi is finally coming around to the idea of having a brother.

She told me last week that it could be a boy as long as we name it Flynn Rider.

This last week she also expressed a little concern if we had a boy. 

She told me boys are so expensive. All their cars cost so much.

Has she looked at the price tags of all the things she wants in the princess aisle?!

This past week Lexi asked if she could go with me to my prenatal check up.

She is so excited about this baby and so curious.

I told her she could and she did great the whole time.

She was just a little concerned that mommy had to pee in a special cup 

and put the cup in the window in the wall.

She was so excited to hear the heart beat but 

was really surprised to hear what the heart beat sounded like.

I think she was expecting to hear a baby babbling or crying.

...

I bought some new maternity capris yesterday.

I was fitting into my regular capris just fine until I dried them and they shrunk!

...

I have an ultrasound scheduled a week from Tuesday, so the 22nd.

I'm excited to find out if I need to go shopping for boy clothes or make some new bows.

Lexi is so excited to go to the ultrasound.
She even told me she'll probably be okay if it's a boy.

Lexi's Mother Day Art

This was not my best year for Mother's Day.

I have been so busy lately and it's not gonna slow down until after we move later this week.

I had planned on mailing Lexi's art for Mother's Day but just never made it to the post office. 

So here it is on our blog for everyone to see.

 

Lexi wanted to make Avery a picture too.

 

Lexi thought that she should also make herself a picture for Mother's Day.

And a picture for dad. Since she loves him too.

Happy Mother's Day!