Awesome August

 We had our annual "Bryce Birthday Hike" up in the Canyons at Park City.  We did it a little early this year, not on Bryce's actual birthday, so McKay and Loida could come before they went back to China.  It was a beautiful sunny day and even though we had a rough start (I forgot to bring Edie's shoes so we had to go to Walmart to buy her some new ones, once we were inside Walmart we realized Whit didn't have his wallet, so we had to call mom and dad to bail us out!) we had a fun time together!

 Edie was such a good little hiker!  She was so excited when we took her out of the backpack and she could walk by herself for a bit.

 We stopped here to rest while the rest of the gang went to the peak at 9990.  Some day our kids will be old enough for us to go there again, it's such a neat hike!  But we had fun chillin in the ski lift while we waited :)

 It was so sad that this was our last fun thing with McKay and Loida!  We had so much fun with them while they were out here and we hope they decide to move here soon!!!

Here is Winston, channeling his uncle McKay!  I was getting Winston's bath started and I turned around for two seconds and saw this when I turned back around.  He's quick!  And he loves his baths :)  It just made me laugh because we have a picture of McKay in his pajamas in the bathtub as well.  Guess it must run in the family :)

This kid sure does make me laugh :)

The last weekend in August we went camping!!!  First time ever for the kiddos.  They had fun hanging out with Grandpa

and Grandma

 and playing in the trailer

 Uncle Dallin practiced his photography and got this awesome shot of Edie.  I was trying to get an equally great picture of Winston and I got this,

him trying to hit the camera lens with a shovel.  Oh well, I guess I captured his personality :) 

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Whit discovered that the pump for the air mattress doubled as a great fire blower.  He loved using it to stoke up the fire!  Camping is so much fun.

 

The next morning these guys took the kids down to the reservoir so Whit and I could clean up camp a bit.

Then we all went on a little hike together and it was so beautiful!  I just love being in the mountains.

I think Edie does too :)

 Yay for camping!

And yay for being home again.  Nothing can compare to sleeping in your own bed :)  So here we all are the next day, all clean, showered, and ready for church.  It was Labor Day weekend, so my goal is for our family to have our picture taken in front of our house each Labor Day weekend.  Then we can see how we change through the years.  Next year we may actually have flowers in the flower beds, in a few more years we'll have a concrete pad instead of weeds next to the driveway, and then we'll get a fence...We are so happy to be here and to be in our own place that we can keep making better and better.  Life is pretty good :)

Summer days...

It's been a fun and crazy month!  It all started when McKay and Loida came to visit!!!  It's been 3 years since I've seen McKay, he moved to China and has been working there without coming home for a visit.  Can you believe it?  So this was the first time I met Loida in person.  We were so excited, we got to the airport early with our little sign, and waited forever.  Mum and dad weren't there yet so we thought perhaps we were waiting in the wrong terminal, so we went over to the international terminal.  That was like a ghost town so we went back to where we were.  We found mom and dad, but not McKay and Loida.  We kept waiting and waiting and then McKay called!  They had already picked up their bags and were ready to go!  I guess they slipped pass us when we were shuffling between terminals.  So they didn't get to come down the escalator and see our sign and hear us cheer for them, but it was still a fun reunion!  It made me tear up a little even :)

They came in on a Monday, and that Friday I took the kids down to mom and dad's for the weekend.  Whit was running Wasatch Back with his co-workers and had a great time.  We had fun hanging out in Spanish Fork.  The kids liked playing in the sprinklers, a little too much!  They got totally soaked.

So then we took their clothes off and they had fun playing.

They sure do love the water!

Saturday we went over to BYU and went to the newly reopened Monty Bean museum.  

Edie likes museums about as much as Whit does :)

But we had fun walking around campus and being together.  Even if it was soooo hot!

 The next week Tyler and Natalie and their family came to Utah from Wisconsin.  It was so fun hanging out with them (they spent a night at our house even!).  We got family pictures taken!

 All of the grandkids!  All 6 of them :)

 Kind of weird to get family pictures without Bryce, these are the first family pictures we've had since he passed away 5 years ago.  We miss him but are happy for all the additions to the family we've had since then :)  I'm especially grateful for Whit and our two kiddos.  I think they are the cutest :)

 Here are some random pictures from the month--going on walks,

  

 Still loving bath time,

 Falling asleep on walks, 

 Whit's sister is letting us piano sit for a couple of years, we are super excited about that!!!

 Edie is quite adventurous and doesn't sit still for a second!

 They still love playing on the ipad on Sundays,

 Winston falls asleep whenever we go anywhere in the car ;)

 We had a bridal shower for my cousin Anika--it was such a lovely evening and I forgot to take a picture with everyone :(  I'll have to get a copy of my mum's--she's so good to remember to take pictures.

 on July 24th, we had a lunch date while the kids were taking their naps.  We got a movie from Redbox and Whit made us a delicious lunch.  It was really fun :)

 Edie loves being held,

 Winston fell asleep eating lunch one day,

 We got a booster seat for Winston so he could start eating at the table with us, but Edie kind of took it over.  Guess we'll be ordering another one :)

 And back to Christensen family fun!  After we got our family pictures taken we went up to Whit's parent's cabin!  We had so much fun being all together and playing games.

 We wore poor little Winston out!

 McKay and Loida brought everyone presents from China.  Whit was super excited about his ping pong paddle :)

 Edie was not excited about being in the Olympics

 But we all had fun racing each other.  Whit pushed himself a little too hard though,

While he was racing against me he pulled a hamstring!  

 Ouch!  He iced it and took it easy for a few minutes, and was pretty bummed that he didn't get to take on my brothers in a race.  He was really hoping to smoke them all this year!

 But this guy is still pretty fast!  We'll see how Whit does the next time we get together for the races :)

 He recovered enough to do the discus.  I was bummed I couldn't do that because of my elbow :(  Next time for sure!  We'll smoke them all :)

 I did have one good race though.  Although it didn't start off so well, Loida stormed out of the gate!

 She was ahead of me the whole time, but I just kept running...

 And then at the last minute I was able to pull ahead for the victory.  Hooray!

 Fun times had by all.  Doesn't grandma look thrilled?

 

The next day we went hiking,

  

 Edie was fascinated with the 4 wheelers.

She got tired too though,

 

But was really happy when she finally got to go for a ride :)

 And the best part of the whole month!  McKay and Loida got sealed in the Brigham City Temple.  It was such a wonderful day and so awesome to all be in the temple together.

Sure do love my family!!!