The Christensen Chronicles

Camp Carter

2011-07-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

Trice and I got lucky and received in invitation to join Bonnie and Ken Carter for a fun filled 30+ hour vacation spree to Camp Carter, a.k.a., the Carter Homeless Encampment.

What more could you ask for than 2 trailers by the river and freeway? We enjoyed some great food (Ken cooks a mean tri-tip), great company and conversation, great scenery, and the baddest buggy rides in the state.

We installed (well, kinda installed) a slide on the fort and it even withstood a test run by one guaranteed to be bigger than any intended victim. Looks like they will be having some fun there soon. A great time - definitely the best 30+ hour vacation I ever had.

Quilts

2011-04-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Trice spent lot of time and some moolah on first-year quilts for Bruce and Sydney. They are finally done and she thought that you might like to see pictures of them... here they are...

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

Here is a Valentine's Day wish to you...

Toe dancing

2011-02-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

After reading Melissa's comments about Bruce standing and jumping on his toes, I thought I would post a little video to show that this is a genetic quality.... go boy go!

January 2011

2011-01-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well, it is a new year for the Christensens. Our numbers are growing and are due to grow more any time now... (we are thinking of you Brigitte, Tyler and Logan!)

Make 2011 a great year in your lives!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well, now that the festival of destruction (gift opening) is over, I take keyboard in hand and relate some of the happenings of the year and wax reflective for a brief moment on how blessed we are.

Lisa is still with the Federal Court in San Diego. She recently "got to" take a rare business trip all the way to Los Angeles for training of some sort. She was kind of excited about staying in a hotel and all on someone else's nickel and got a taste of what becomes such drudgery if done enough...ooh, she got a promotion too so now she is getting what she deserved all along. She also had a great trip to Europe this year with some friends. A couple of weeks in the old country left her hungry for more, I think.

Shelley and Steve, Mariah and Jack hosted the family Thanksgiving "get together"; alot of people in their place. We all had a great time together. Mariah and Jack continue to grow and amaze us (I guess I should inject here that all the grandchildren continue to grow and amaze us). They love movies and the park. Steve continues his schooling in addition to work and both he and Shelley are involved in the scouting program in their ward.

Kiel, Melissa, Bruce and Montana are still in SoCal also as Kiel continues with the CHP. Bruce is almost crawling and is an inquisitive little guy. He is so happy and loves all the attention he gets. Melissa loves taking or having pictures taken of him and documents every activity (some we won't mention here). They are happy and rumor has it Bruce will be a big brother next year...

Brittany, Gabe and Sydney live close to us and so we do have one grandchild close enough to dote on. We get to watch her, a.k.a. babysit, once in a while so we get to see her grow more close up than the other grandchildren. She is a really fun little girl who now is very mobile so we need to be on our older toes to keep up with her. Gabe is contracted to the school district as a speech therapist where he helps many children and Britt loves being a mom, I think, and exploring life with her family.

Brigitte, Tyler and Logan are our far flung seeds... we wish we could see them more. Brigitte and Logan came to the Thanksgiving feast in SoCal so we got to see them for a few days. Unfortunately, Tyler couldn't come due to work but we were thrilled to spend time with Logan and get to know each other a little better. He is going to be a big brother next month (go Brigitte!). He is a thoughtful little boy and works things out before trying them himself - a good quality for many of us adults to develop.

Celia is in her last undergraduate year at BYU. August will bring our 4th, and most accomplished, BYU grad in the family. She is planning on continuing her graduate studies in Public Administration. She looks forward to sleep, sleep and sleep in that order. After work, studies, concerts, homework (and trust me, this can go late into the night) , and a smattering of social life activities it is no wonder sleep is a highly prized commodity.

As for us, we love life, our children, their children, and are grateful for all the blessings we have been given. Although loss and trials have come our way this year, we are optimistic about the future for us and our family. It is a good time to reflect on those things that are of true importance from an eternal perspective and those we have in abundance.

Merry Christmas to all!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

I know you've been waiting breathlessly for the video... I thought I took more but I did get a few clips; all kids so no adults need be concerned about random embarrassing stuff. We had a great time with everyone. We wish Tyler could have been there too. I always have so much fun watching and playing with the kids. Thanks to Shelley and Steve for opening Hotel Jordan to everyone and putting up with us all. It was a great, great time.

Fall 2010

2010-10-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Summer is supposed to be over, how come it is still so hot here? That darn global warming I guess. We sure enjoyed having some of the kids home for conference weekend. Lisa even surprised us and came. We had a good time together and wish that all the family could have been here. Here are a couple pictures from the weekend.

Kiel and Bruce took the opportunity to get some rest...

On a more serious note, I should tell you kids how proud I am of you all and the lives you lead. I wouldn't trade my children for any others anywhere and I would put you up for comparison against anyone. I think you are all good people and I am truly proud of you. Thanks.

Yardwork...

2010-07-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

My family knows a dark secret about me... I hate doing yard work. I am ok once I am started but getting there is a real chore. I love things that grow and look beautiful but I hate maintaining them. When I was 14, my dad suggested that I contract with the apartment building dwellers on our Army post in Germany to maintain their yards. For 10 - 12 dollars a month I mowed, weeded, and trimmed around several 6 and 8 family apartment buildings. It was a year round job so I shoveled and salted in the winter too - sometimes 2 and 3 times a day. Although I enjoyed having the pocket money it provided, it made for some long days, particularly in the wintertime. By the time we moved back to the states in 1971, I owned two power lawn mowers and an assortment of gardening tools that would fill Juan and Paco's pick-em-up truck. Don't know what ever happened to those... I think my distaste for the green-thumb stuff dates back to my first horticultural experience. I was 9, I think. We lived in Chambersburg, PA. My dad took me out one day to an overgrown lawn, pointed to the push mower, and said "This is your job." I strained and pushed for hours on that mower and made little progress. I was convinced that the push mower was developed during the Inquisition by Jesuit torturers to extract confessions. Anyway, I worked at that for over a week, I think, and never finished. The worst part about it is that now I have no children around to share this wonderful experience with... when we come to visit, don't ask.

More recent events...

2010-07-25T10:14:00.001-07:00

I'll sort of fill you in on some things that have happened recently and try to be better at updating...

Brittany and Gabe welcomed Sydney, our fourth grandchild, to their home in March. She is a doll and we are glad to have someone close by to play with. Kiel and Melissa welcomed Bruce, our fifth grandchild and the first Christensen grandchild and great-grandchild, to their home. He sleeps in buckets, boxes, and sometimes on a scale (see their blog for more info on those).

We had two foreign exchange students from Germany stay with us in April. It was almost providential the way that it came about. Steffi and Julia live in small towns near Stuttgart and we were the last-minute fill as their host family. It couldn't have worked out better for us. They are great girls and were alot of fun to have with us. The volcano erupting in Iceland finally let them go home only 10 days late.

April 2009

2009-03-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

Trice says nobody cares about my explanation of what's going on so since a picture is worth a thousand words, we'll just post them...

This is what Trice sees every day at work... Life is tough.

Mariah just gets cuter...

...and cuter

...and learns all the most important stuff...

Kiel and Melissa were married last Saturday morning. Here are a couple pictures from the temple and the reception. They'll be living in Redondo Beach over looking the beach. They are in Mexico (not catching the flu, we hope) for their honeymoon. We'll post more pictures of the reception after they get them and pass them on. It was a great day - amazing how that works.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

As I sit here a few days after Christmas, it is too easy to wax prosaic on the joys of the holiday; we went to someone else's house, slept in their guest room, ate their food, used their shower, lounged about like cats (the most useless of all domestic animals), and then simply got up and left with hardly a thank you. It was the first time in almost 30 years that we spent Christmas away from our own home. I guess we should get used to going somewhere else from now on or spending it with many fewer people around but still...

We had a great time at Shelley's, Steve's, and Mariah's house in Yucaipa this year. Lisa came up from San Diego, Celia flew in from Provo, and Kiel and Melissa came over from Manhattan Beach. Brigitte, Tyler, and Logan were in Utah this year and Brittany went to visit Gabe's family in West Virginia (more on that later). Since Kiel had to work on Christmas eve and Christmas day, we did the Gift of the Magi sob fest (a local tradition where the kids get to make fun of dad as he attempts to read the story with dry eyes) and the present opening on the evening of the 23rd and Christmas eve morning. Opening presents is always alot of fun; to see people opening a real surprise gift is a great source of amusement. This time we got to watch as Mariah opened presents for the first time. She was particularly fond of a drum and her (Steve's) new wagon. The wagon, it turns out, was designed with two small riders in mind. It came complete with cup holders and seat belts. The seat belts were NOT Mariah's favorite feature although she got a little more used to them after moving outside and starting the actual ride.

Christmas eve evening we enjoyed the hospitality of Steve's brother and family for dinner and family fellowship. I particularly enjoyed a long discussion with Doug, Steve's dad, and getting to know him better. He is a remarkable man and has had a number of great faith promoting experiences in his life.

Christmas day was actually pretty uneventful for us. It rained all day and since Kiel and Melissa had gone and Steve, Shelley, and Mariah had gone to Steve's family for gifts and family stuff, Trice, Celia, Lisa, and I were left to our own devices. We found Ben-Hur on TMC without commercials and settled in for a long watch... great show. I mentioned earlier that Brittany wasn't with us on this trip; she went to West Virginia this year to visit with the family of her friend Gabe. When I tell this to anyone it seems that the standard response is a knowing wink and a nod. Am I missing something? Anyway, she and Gabe have been seeing alot of each other over the past few months. He is a fine man and is studying speech therapy at Cal State where he plans to finish his Master's program this summer.

After the show, everything was pretty much on rest and relax... I can't remember much of what we did except play games and watch Mariah. The best part of the days there was getting to know Mariah better. All Trice wanted her to do was call us Opa and Omi. She seems to have an aversion to the "m" sounds. As a parting note I don't mind saying that I was overjoyed to hear that after we left, Mariah would look around and say "Papa?" which was about as close as we got to Opa. That's my girl!

As Trice, Celia, and I returned to a very cold house after a long drive home, I think we all feel the same gratitude for many, many blessings. I hope that you all take a few minutes to count yours and remember where they come from. Life is good in spite of the bumps in the road.

Merry Christmas!

Business in Japan.... again.

2008-09-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Just got back Saturday from another week in Japan. I was in Osaka for the general membership meeting of the SD Card Association for which I serve as the Executive Director. Great meeting; the group made alot of progress on specification and marketing work. On Wednesday we had a board dinner at a very traditional restaurant built on the grounds of an old estate belonging to the family of a baron of the empire. The picture of course one of twelve. They sure like fish... some of it was even cooked. I really enjoy meeting with the members from all over the world. My flight back didn't leave till after 5PM on Saturday so w few of us got together and toured the Osaka castle. Great history in Osaka. The castle was destroyed and rebuilt at least three times since the 1600's. The last time by the citizenry of Osaka in 1961, I think. We got a guided tour of the grounds from two very nice volunteer ladies who were sent by a service the Hotel Otani (where we stayed) engages. Unfortunately they couldn't speak much English. They were fun though and we had a good time trying to understand what they were telling us. One said she made an entire suit of samurai armor out of paper (probably cardboard type) which weighs about 4 kilos compared to the 20-25 kilos that the real stuff weighed. She seemed quite the enthusiast. After the castle we walked to a restaurant one of the guys knew... it was closed. Bummer... So after a significant walk and a couple very real blisters, we ate some delicious American fast food. As much as I really like Japanese culture and business practices, I just can't seem to get used to raw fish. Kudos to anyone who can.

30 years!

2008-08-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our children who thoughtfully provided us a night on the town. We had a great night on the Hornblower dinner/dance cruise. Dinner was outstanding and the dancing was... well it was fun to watch. There was a live "band" on board and they were pretty good. The evening was foggy and a little brisk on the deck so we stayed in the dining room and didn't brave the weather. It was a really fun time together.

Kiel's CHP graduation day!

2008-04-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long time coming but at last the day is here! We just got home from Sacramento where we witnessed Kiel's graduation from the California Highway Patrol academy and his promotion from Cadet to Officer. Patrice pinned his badge on him as part of the formal ceremony and now he is officially a Highway Patrol Officer. His first field assignment, for those who don't already know, will be South Los Angeles and he will live in Manhattan Beach where he and a few others found a house together. He will start there in 10 days so we have him till Tuesday and then he's off to set up shop in SoCal. You know, I wonder if the NorCal sticker on his car will have to come off now...

Christmas 2007

2007-12-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve 2007

2007-12-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well it's Christmas time again and the painful stuff is over... you know, the lights, the decorations, the tree; all that stuff we really look forward to (ooh, ending a sentence with a preposition?). Now the real holiday begins and the good stuff starts. Celia arrived home from her first semester at BYU reporting success on all fronts except the dreaded Nutrition class. Most importantly, she is having fun and that is something she never expected to say about school. She likes her roommates; she confessed this through tears of joy while saying that she "loves them with every fiber of her being". All in all, I think that the college experience has done her good. Lisa was next to arrive home. Pearl, her car, is healthy and is now paid for! That means that she can save something. Only 7 more months and she will be through her paralegal training and can begin a new and hopefully more profitable chapter in her working life. She still lives in San Diego and divides her time between work, church service, fun with friends and helping those hit recently by the wildfires in Southern California. She and her roommates narrowly avoided evacuation themselves when the fire turned during the night. Living near a temple probably helped in that. Kiel made it home again on Friday. He is about 1/3 of the way through the CHP academy in Sacramento and while enjoying it is maybe not the phrase to describe it, he is finding satisfaction in succeeding there. The boot camp like environment demands a great deal of self discipline which is something always best learned young. Alot of his fellow cadets appear not to have learned it though as Kiel and his compadres do many a pushup and squat thrust to pay for infractions committed by the less disciplined. On the flip side we are often regaled by recitations of penal code sections and the occasional arrest demonstration. Brittany... well Brittany has provided us much of the excitement this year. After testing her stamina and recuperative powers against other cars and walls, she may have decided that parent's advice isn't so bad. Of course our once healthy stable of fine automobiles has taken a hit but we are grateful beyond measure that she is still with us (and that she is paying her own insurance). She still works as an assistant to Dr. Blatter and enjoys her work there. She enjoys a healthy, if somewhat active, social life several nights a week. Shelley, Steve, and Mariah arrived this morning at 3:30 AM after a long drive from their home in southern California. Steve has been kept busy by all the fires in SoCal and Shelley has been trying to figure out what to do with herself and all her free time as a new mom... dishes play no part in that. They have plenty to do in making a home in their new house and taking care of Mariah. Mariah is just as cute as we've told everyone and has everyone in the palm of her hand, so to speak, wherever she goes. We do miss having Brigitte and Tyler with us for Christmas this year but I guess we do have to share. They are spending time this Christmas with Tyler's family while they wait out the last month for Logan's arrival. They moved into their own apartment recently and are enjoying being in their own place. I believe we are all greatly blessed and should be grateful for the good things in our lives. We hope you all are having a wonderful holiday and that the new year holds great things in store for you!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving video

2007-11-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

A few clips of Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving '07

2007-11-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

I guess this will be the first of our blog entries. Maybe this will inspire us to keep more current in our news.

We had a great time in St. George with family and friends for Thanksgiving. It was something of an adventure getting there and then even more so coming home! Highway 58 was closed at 395 near Barstow so we took a scenic detour to go around the clog - 25 miles on dirt roads! 20 Mule Team Road was part of the trip. It was a challenge and cost us an hour but friends told us they were stuck there for up to 3 hours so I guess that it saved us time in the end.

It was good to have everyone together (Kiel was in Salt Lake City visiting friends there) and spend time together. Mariah was the hit of the party. Everyone wanted to hold her. Of course we took our turns and gave the others a little time. The normal Thanksgiving sports routines were marred by the "less than successful" week that OSU had in the Maui Invitational. We had hoped for a better performance but Brad did well in limited action due to his injury. Scott's and Kristin's house is beautiful and maybe if they get some neighbors they'll stay there. Hope Scott does ok putting up the lights...

The ride home was made long by some car trouble... we never had any trouble with the BMW but it seemed to develop an over heating problem coming out of the mountains. We limped into Bakersfield, found no one to service it on Saturday, and, after a 6 hour layover while it cooled (and while Brittany took the opportunity to buy her own car), we decided to nurse it home. While Trice, Britt and Birdene took Britt's purchase home, I nursed the BMW home. Actually I arrived before the others. Through divine intervention, the BMW had virtually no trouble all the way home.

All in all, a great trip. We have much to be thankful for in our lives. Hope your holiday was great!