Jots and Tittles

One week

2008-10-24T19:13:41Z

I'm so glad this week is coming to a close. It's been stressful and long! I have definitely decided I do not like being a working mom. It's okay to occasionally have to be somewhere that takes all day, but day after day of it is crap. And my house shows it.

I subbed for my librarian friend again this week. She's having a hard time bouncing back from her surgery and the decline in health of her aging parents. I am happy to help her out, and I have really enjoyed the chance to "teach" library, but being gone from home has been an issue. I enjoy being here when the older kids get home from school. And by the time I would get home, it was time for piano, horseback riding lessons, cello lessons, volleyball, or whatever so nothing got done beyond the basics.

In addition, it is the end of the term so everyone is stressed... And we've had orchestra and choir concerts to attend, to boot. I love seeing my kids perform :)

Here's some pics...
M's Central Singer's Choir Concert... They sang Abba songs. That shouldn't be allowed.

N's first orchestra concert as a junior high student... She's the odd one out in our family, playing the violin.

M's orchestra concert... M enjoys orchestra only because she really enjoys the company of the other orchestra geeks she sits by. She refuses to try for first chair because then she couldn't misbehave with the basses and 8th grade cellos. That's my M!

and bnl_fan 's orchestra concert... She's orchestra president again this year and is working so hard to make it fun and cool. She's got the orchestra involved in the Homecoming activities, something they've never done, she's arranged for fund raisers for a CA trip, something that's never been done, and she's hosted parties--here--that was weird. Orchestra kids are just weird.

Strange that they didn't notice the large yellow arrows above their heads...

Bwahahahaha

2008-10-22T16:16:37Z

Thai Coconut Soup

2008-10-21T13:43:47Z

My sister brought this soup to M's baptism. It was so good, I have been craving it so I made it Saturday. aloha_sushi 's was better, but it was still delicious. Try it, you'll love it!

Thai Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons grated ginger
4 to 6 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons fish sauce (soy sauce may be substituted)
2 (14 ounce) cans coconut milk
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and sliced thin
into 1-inch strips
1/2 pound white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt
1/2 cup whole fresh cilantro leaves

1. Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until
shimmering. Stir in the ginger and curry paste and cook for 1 minute.
Add 1/2 cup of the broth and stir until the curry paste dissolves.
Stir in the remaining broth and the fish sauce. Bring to a simmer and
cook, partially covered, for 15 minutes.

2. Stir in the coconut milk, chicken, and mushrooms. Simmer until the
chicken is cooked, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and season
with salt. Sprinkle the bowls of soup with the cilantro leaves before
serving.

Rachael Ray Hula Joes

2008-10-21T13:38:10Z

These looked good and easy as I watched her make them yesterday so I gave them a try last night. Yes, they were yummy. I needed something easy because I worked again yesterday... The librarian I subbed for last week needed me afternoons this week as she eased herself back to work after her surgery. Then, as soon as I was done there, I had to run Scout (now asking us to call her Dillian?) to horseback riding lessons. Finally, at 7, we got home and I started dinner.

Hula Joes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 pound smoked ham or bacon, diced
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
1 sweet onion, such as Maui or Vidalia, finely chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
Salt and ground black pepper
4 Kaiser rolls
1 cup shredded yellow cheddar cheese

Yields: 4 servings

Preparation

Preheat broiler.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with one turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon. Cook bacon in the pan until crispy, about 3-4 minutes, and remove it to a small bowl.

Return the pan with the bacon fat back over the heat, add the ground pork and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes.

While the pork and onions are cooking, in a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire and tomato sauce. Pour into the skillet with the pork and onion, cook about a minute, then stir in pineapple. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

While the filling is cooking, split open the rolls and toast them under the broiler. Be careful not to burn them!

To serve, place a bun bottom on a plate with a scoop of Hula Joe mixture and a sprinkling of cheese. Top with the bun cap and serve some Pacific Rim Potatoes alongside.

Pooh Sticks

2008-10-20T14:56:40Z

This weekend was a long holiday weekend for us here in UT. We were going to go back to Delta (my choice), but the kids rebelled a bit so we decided to stay local. One day was spent doing our part to aid in the economic recovery of our great nation. We even got Dilbert into a store! It was good, although he's feeling a bit of sticker shock after seeing how much it takes to buy just a few pieces of clothes for each of the girls.

The next day we puttered around here, getting the yard and house ready for winter but with the weather so beautiful, it is hard to really get serious about it. We wont really get going on the winterizing until the big snow is imminent (at least that's how it's been the last few years.)

On Saturday we went to the city library and then to the creek behind it. My kids insist on playing Pooh Sticks every time we go there, no matter how old they are. For those who don't know what Pooh Sticks are, here's a lesson. First, find a bridge over a stream, creek or river. Next, select a sturdy, recognizable stick. Hold the stick over the water upstream and drop it.

Then rush to the other side of the bridge and watch for your stick to come under the bridge. The first stick to pass under the bridge is the winner. Then repeat the process until your parents loose patience with the game and tell you to stop.

We are very fortunate to have such a lovely park so close to home. It is really like a hideaway with a thick canopy of trees and cute little paths. AND a library! Whoohoo!

I realized that I hadn't marked the passing of our anniversary moving here to UT. We moved here conference weekend, 2000, so it's been 8 years. It doesn't seem it could possibly be that long! But yeah, it has. I still miss my TX friends, but enjoy it here in UT so much. I went for a short hike yesterday to enjoy the changing leaves on the bench above our home (and take a few pictures with my new baby). Apparently everyone else had the same idea, there were so many people on the trail, it was ridiculous.

Photography

2008-10-19T17:15:30Z

This is only for those who have nothing but chores to do but are instead looking to waste some time on the computer, instead.

I have had so much fun with my new baby. I have found I really enjoy the photography experience and I also LOVE the editing. So I've been playing with my Photoshop Elements program and have made these macro pictures. Some worked great, some I'm still working on, and some are awful. But I'm having fun avoiding work.

My new baby

2008-10-16T03:31:02Z

I broke down and bought a new toy...

Meet my new baby!

Now let's see if my photos improve!

M's baptism

2008-10-16T03:25:53Z

Saturday was M's baptism. The day was dark, cold and dreary. It began to snow by 10 a.m. but luckily didn't start to stick until much later. I spent the morning at the R.S. Super Saturday doing the requisite vinyl on wood and sheet metal craft projects and then raced home to make soup, bread sticks and clean house. Because I had been working and my schedule was so thrown off, I had forgotten to go to the Stake Center earlier in the week to pick up baptism clothes for M so we raced down to the Stake Center to pick up her clothes. I feel like such a dork!

Because we had so many children being baptized this month, the stake split the baptisms into two groups. We got the later group. M was so excited to baptized on the same day as one of very best friends!

We met at 6 at the stake center. We had been asked to do the special musical number for the opening exercises so BNLFAN_1 played the viola (a new instrument for her), N played the violin (her debut performance), Scout played the cello, I accompanied on the piano, and H and two neighbors sang, "I am a Child of God". It was wonderful to have my children performing together. After that, as Primary President, I got to do the baptism spotlight on M. She's a sweet girl with a wicked streak. Her favorite scripture story is Moses and the Children of Israel being delivered from Egypt because she likes the plagues. And her favorite song? "Called to Serve" because it gets stuck in Dilbert's head ever since Frank's MTC visit. She also shared she likes to ride her bike, read and bake cookies, something she's just developed a skill for and she's very good at it. Her favorite subject in school is reading (yeah!!!) and her favorite food is bananas. Her favorite color is white because it has all the colors in it.

Then we went into the font room and Dilbert performed the baptism. I still can't believe my baby is baptized! What a milestone. I'm a bit melancholy about it, knowing it marks the end of an era, but it is also the beginning of something wonderful for her. She is also the last Christensen grandchild to be baptized. Of course there will be great-grandchildren, but it is kind of sad to see an era end.

(these are the men in the confirmation circle except Uncle Steve who had already left the chapel)

After the baptism we came back here for a soup bar and dessert. Posies did a fabulous cake for M. She had a wedding cancel after the cake was made so she did it up for M, creating a new tradition... The BAPTISM CAKE. It was coconut/pineapple on the top, lemon poppyseed in the middle and chocolate orange on the bottom. Oh my, were they ever delicious!

And the soups everyone brought were so delicious! Wow. I had to try everything so I was so stuffed by the end. It was a good stuffed. It was good to have everyone together again, especially so soon after Frank's farewell, so I just have to say, "Thanks for coming!" And to Mom and Day, sorry you missed it. But Mom, notice she's wearing the little jacket you crocheted for H? She wanted to wear something of yours since you couldn't be there. And we missed Frank, of course, but he's doing so awesome, it's really okay that he isn't around. His letters to M have been very sweet about missing her but knowing he's doing what he should be doing.

I have an awesome family (on both sides!) But the next get-together is going to be smaller. Maybe one side of the family at a time, if that's okay!

Where'd you go?

2008-10-16T02:46:24Z

I haven't posted in quite a while because I've been working AND getting M baptized. I am not used to being a working Mom and I have to admit I am not good at it and I do not like it. I'm glad it is over now. I didn't have internet access while I was working, and by the time I got home, I had so much to do, I couldn't even think about blogging. It was all I could do to read my important e-mails. I am going to post about M's baptism in a separate post...

I have been subbing for a friend who had her gall bladder removed this week. She's a librarian in a new library. It was a really nice library, but with few books (more arriving every day, but it is a little sad to see so many of the shelves bare). Anyway, I learned how to check in and out and sort books and shelve books and NOT get all ticked off when the 4th grade boys destroyed the Star Wars books AGAIN... Well, that I didn't learn.

I got to read fun stories to the kids and be crazy with them, which was really fun. But most of the time I was stamping books. I went from shelf to shelf, stamping them with the school name, on the front and back covers and also one more in the middle, just for good luck. I bet I did 1,000,000 stamps this week. My hand and arm ache. I really wanted to get it all done before Kellen returned from her surgery but I didn't get through half of the non-fiction, although I did get through all the Easy fiction and the YA fiction.

It became a personal goal to make it through all those books and I am bummed I didn't make it. If I just had two more days... What a goof I am!

Anyway, it was pretty great until I woke up this morning with pink eye. Of all the dumb!!! I went into the office first thing and told the secretary that I had it and had only had one dose of drops and she had this panicky look on her face. She said she wanted me to stay and keep subbing because it would be harder to find another sub than to explain to irate parents. I figured I knew how to NOT touch my eyes and then touch surfaces that the kids would touch and I carried around bottle of wipes. I just thought it was funny and ironic and stupid.

Frank's Letter October 15 2008

2008-10-16T01:03:28Z

This week's e-mail, first what he wrote to Dad:
I certainly understand how busy things can be. Some days we don't have time for anything it seems, between all our appointments and everything. But then time passes quicker, and well it's just kinda wierd. We've always got a lot to do, but time is an anomaly here. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. I think back on how long I've been out here and it doesn't seem like that long, but like everything else, back at home, was a long time ago.
How has it been being the volleyball coach? It's gotta be a new experience I imagine, and interesting, with it being kids Holly's age..... What a challenge.
Which Orchestra concert was it? Or are they still combining them all? Well, I don't think it matters very much anyways.
It's just so great that Marissa was baptized. Awesome. I wish I could have been there.
Being assistant scoutmaster, which group is that? The Deacon age boys?
Oh man, the Orchestra party was at our house? Orchestra parties are notorious for being full of loud rambunctiousness, more than any others (in reputation at least) from high school. That one I'm not so sad to have missed. We all have our trials to endure. Ha ha.
I'm doing well myself, we've had about a normal week. Just same ol' same ol' for the mission field. Lots of knocking. We did six hours on Monday. The mission goal is ten a week, and we're on average doubling that, but not meeting our goals on BoMs placed. It's a trial, but the ones that we do get out make it worth it. For example, we found a girl on Friday named Kelcey. On Sunday a girl from the ward told us that Kelcey had found her at school and asked a lot of questions about the church, told her that she'd been reading the Book of Mormon, and yeah. Prime investigator. Our 3 that we're teaching already were all over the board. Charlie had a setback, we thought he had gained a testimony but in actuality he meant that he beleived that we beleived it. I think we can work through it though. Bill and Betty made some great strides this week. They have been reading every day, something they haven't really done in their whole 2 years of investigating, and we got Bill to church for the first time in a LONG time. Betty wants to be baptized, she is clearly feeling the impact of the spirit in her life, and as such is trying to whip Bill into shape and get him to follow through with his commitments and get him to the same place she is. Awesome! Dennis, Kim, and Shannon are in the same place as last week unfortunately.
That's about it for our progress. Oh, and we had Zone Conference. That's the about 30-40 missionaries that cover my zone, which is one of 5 that correspond to the 5 stakes in the mission, where we take a day and listen to the President and his assistants, Zone leaders, and learn a lot about things we can do better on. The big one for me out of it was planning. We are crazy intense planners out here, every minute has about 3 things planned for it so we don't waste any time.
I'm probably going to have to ask you to share some of this with the rest of the family because of my time constraints on the computer, if you would.
Ok, so that's it I think. It's been a good week though. Full of hard work and setbacks, but also some of the best rewards and learning I've ever had. Such is the life.
I'm glad I had a great example in you to help me prepare to come out here. I can't tell you how much better some of the families we've talked with would have been if they'd all had a Dad like I did. I'm really learning to appreciate that out here.
Love,
Elder Robert Christensen

And to me, he wrote:
I'm running short now, so I'll have to keep it a little shorter this week, sorry. Dad got my updates, so you'll have to look at his email to get this week from me, sorry again. Oh, and the picture didn't work. I think it's pretty simple on the email system, it looks the same as the davis county school one did.
Time is crazy here. Like I said to Dad, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. It feels like I've only been here for a short time but that I left a LONG time ago.
That makes you respect librarians more doesn't it? I always thought they had an easy job until Nick started working there and complained about things like that. That is too bad about the pink eye though.
I think you took the smart route with PTA presidency. You get it the year it gets dissolved, Huzzah! All the glory of the title and none of the work right? I'm joking of course.
It's just so great about Marissa's baptism. I'd really like to hear from her about how she felt about it.
I haven't got into anything like Zach did, don't worry. I would probably tell you, just so that you didn't call the president all up in a fuss.
It snowed there??? I'd heard, but 6 inches??? Wow, it was 83 degrees here yesterday. The leaves are even still pretty much entirely around.
I'll admit I am a little sad at the volume of mail I've received, but mostly the lack of mail from friends. I've got something from pretty much everybody in the family at least once or twice, but only Brady has written me back. I sent out like 8 letters to friends, everyone I had addresses for, and only one person wrote me back! Grrrrr.
Not having been to the Salt Lake Temple I can't really say. But, the opinion around here at least is that DC is SLC for the 21st century. The same, but better. I guess I'll just have to see when I get back.
The transfer schedule is when we change places. A normal length of time in an area is about 3 transfers, and each transfer is 6 weeks. So, I'll probably be in Hampstead till the end of January. Elder Call will probably be here for one more. They usually have the Papa in the area one before the greenie, and leave one before so a weener can come in. Catchin' all the mission lingo? Sometimes however, they shotgun a greenie and a trainer into a new area. That's rough. Supposedly.
That is the irony about Bill and Betty. We've thought about it, and figured that it's best to leave the mention of marriage out of the picture until Bill has a stronger testimony. He's so afraid of it that we thought it would be best to have a support system in place, being backed up by the gospel and the church and ward, so that he feels safer and more comfortable, with further incentive to go towards it.
Alma and Amulek are great examples of missionaries. One thing I think is so cool is that you can see them play off each other, just like they teach us to. Each teaches to his strengths, working up to each point by laying solid foundations and everything. It's very cool. I love that about 2 Nephi 2 as well. It explains the fall and premortal life better than I ever could. Alma 34 (I think, it might be 32) is the only way I know to make sense of the laws of mercy/justice concept. The best example of a teacher though, is Jesus Christ himself. If ever I have a question on teaching something, he's the best example to turn to and the first place I go. I've been reading through the gospels lately and seeing just what how to go about it.Another thing to remember by the way, is that they were living in Amulek's house. I'll bet Alma did more than that in the morning. It's true about Zeezrom, he had quite a shock. But look where he ended up! A great missionary himself! When they went to the Zoramites, he was with Alma and his sons.
I dunno what to say about getting the others to write, I guess try doing it on Sunday. That's a perfect Sunday activity, and I don't know a better time to do it.
I know there's a lot to do, but I'm out of time now and wish you well for the week.
I love you all very much
Elder Robert Christensen

Catching Up

2008-10-08T20:02:04Z

I haven't mentioned how much fun it was to have my BFF in town for a few days. Joyismygoal and her sweetheart daughter stayed with me after dropping off Big Z at the MTC. Joy's DH had a work meeting in WA so took off to Seattle while we played, ate and shopped. Oh, gosh! I miss having her around! We are so similar, we even buy the same drinking glasses at Ross. How random, I know!

We spent a day at BYU, which was fun, except all we did was go to the bookstore for HOURS. We bought every "BYU BAG" they had (if you've been to the Y in the last year or so, you know what I mean), to the point I was embarrassed to be holding them in my hands. We checked out the art in the basement and sampled fudge. We ran into old TX friends and sent a greenie package to Big Z. Then we shopped our way home. I love shopping with Joy. She's got an eye for style that I just don't have, and a nose for bargains (she makes me look like an amateur). Even with her eye and nose, she doesn't look at all unusual.

We spent a long morning at Tai Pan, another fun time of shopping bliss (and no, I'm not being sarcastic). Then we went and had an electrolysis session (why does it sound like tortue to spend time with me?) and we went on a hike to Ford Falls in Centerville. By that time, it was time to pick up her DH from the airport and he whisked her away early the next morning. I think he was afraid if he stayed around any longer, we'd go shopping again. Oh, if he only knew!

Here's some pictures from Ford Falls...

and a filmstrip...

Frank's Letter October 8 2008

2008-10-08T18:59:20Z

Dear family,
I think I'm going to run out of time so I'll have to make this short. I gave a minor account to Dad already, so I won't cover those things again for time's sake. We get 45 minutes on these library computers, and it's just not enough somehow.
I actually did write Grandparents already. Not the Fords, but that won't be too long I think. The Christensens wrote me a letter while I was at the MTC and I wrote a reply last week. I would hav thought they'd have gotten it by now though...
I think you can probably watch conference videos online by now. The Saturday sessions were the best! You really should try and see them. We got Charley to come to Priesthood, and I think it really did him well. What we actually did was pretty cool. When we got to the church no one else was there, so we got a tv from the library, and the couches from the lobby, and set up a table and everything in the cultural hall. It was pretty cool, I've got a picture of it.
By the way, I can't open attachments here either so you'll have to send Grandma and Grandpa's letters as cut and paste from now on.
That's cool about finding the gold! I hope that by the time I get back you're all experts at panning and we can make a family set of Gold Plates....
Send the package to the mission office, but my address here is 21 millgate road Owings Mills, MD 21117. Any snail mail can come to me through there, but I go by the office every monday after district meeting so either place works.
Hey Marissa! I hear you are getting baptized soon and that you had your interview with the Bishop. That's so cool. You will remember your baptism all your life, I know that you will have an awesome experience. It's cool that you have your own scriptures now too, now you can read on your own and mark them and everything. I really like those two stories too, especially the sons of Mosiah. I hope you always will read your scriptures every day, even if it's just a little bit. It will help you in your life as you become closer to God, and everything won't be so stressful. And I remember reading the Boxcar Children books back when I was your age! I liked them too.
Holly, there are so many scriptures that are great and worth memorizing, that's a great goal to set. One that I think is good is Moses 1:39. It's not very long, and it's very important. It talks about the whole reason God does anything is to make us happy. I think it's really cool. Don't be sad for me! Remember, I'm out here working to help other people find the gospel, which will make their lives better, just as it has made mine, yours, and our whole families better. It's what God wants me to be doing, and it's more important than anything else I could be doing. I know you miss me, but just think of all the blessings that these people will get. Missionary work is cool in that it is a calling that blesses people that aren't even around. By that I mean that few, if any, other callings that I could have would bless your life so much. Heavenly Father will watch out for you and help you even more while I'm here, just remember that and be happy.
It is beautiful out here. It's awesome in fact. The leaves are just barely starting to turn, and I can tell it's going to be spectacular. Our area covers some very rural farming areas too, and we ate at a member's home last night out there. The view from their house was just gorgeous. I hope you do get to see it out here at some point.
About the scarf and hat it doesn't really matter too much to me, as long as it doesn't look TOO wierd. I don't know any norms out here or I'd offer some suggestions. Sorry.
We eat fairly often with members, it depends on the night and the week, but it's about every other night. I haven't been able to get through some food I bought that will soon go bad, if that's an encouraging sign.
Elder Call isn't annoying about musicals or anything, and the ones he likes are much better than Hairspray. For this I am VERY grateful. I hope I don't get any compainions like that....
It's good to know that Hillary's back on her feet again. Did she talke to him or quit or what then? She's been silent since I've been out, so I don't know.
I've written to Brady a little and talked to him about leaving, and he seems pretty excited for it. I can tell though that he doesn't realize what he's getting into. I didn't either, so I cut him some slack. It's great about his leaving though. Same with Craig, although I don't know how he's doing. I think I have family member addresses somewhere, perhaps I will write him.
As far as how I've been look at Dad's letter I guess, I wrote a lot of it there. We've been trying to get our Brigham Young cases in order and get them moving, but that's presenting some obstacles. BTW, that's how we refer to investigators who take a long time, because Brigham Young took a year or something to join the church. The only thing standing in the way of Bill and Betty's baptism is them getting married. Bill had a BAD first marriage, and even though they've been living together 38 years he is very hesitant. Betty has said she thinks about baptism often, and would be if she could. But she's terrified of losing Bill, and it's just a mess. Charley is coming along well, we're working with him on his smoking, but once that's cleared I don't think there's anything standing in his way. Dennis, Kim, and Shannon are making slow, but steady progress I think, but it's harder to tell with them. Mostly, we've been finding some great new potential investigators. I think when the past 2 weeks' potentials come into the teaching pool we'll have great success there. Besides that it's been a little slow admittedly, but nothing too bad. Everyone so far has still been nice at the doors even, not a slam, threat, or anything like that yet. It's a pretty nice area.
Well, I think that's about it for this week.
Love,
Elder Robert Christensen

A Letter from Frank's Mission President

2008-10-07T21:24:48Z

We got this in the mail last week (yeah, I'm finally catching up on all my blogs)

FHE in Weber Canyon

2008-10-07T03:59:22Z

Photography

2008-10-06T00:38:38Z

I have been playing with my camera, trying to convince Dilbert I need more than a point-and-shoot. But the convincing has been fun. I also really enjoy the post-photography editing. Here's some of my latest efforts:

This is pre-edit, a picture of an Elephant Ear, growing wild on the Tibble Creek bank. It was beautiful.

With this one I tried reducing the color saturation and liked the effect.

Next is a picture of some trees:

And then post-edit, it looks kind of spooky

This picture was actually of a leaf covered with dirt kicked up by ATV's. The colors just didn't pop like they did in real life.

So I came home and kicked up the color and got this much more interesting dirty leaf:

Which one of these is better?

Panning for COLD

2008-10-06T00:21:47Z

Friday was Dilbert's day off so he took me on a big adventure. He took me panning for GOLD!

We didn't find a lot of GOLD, but we found a lot of golden leaves. American Fork Canyon was beautiful. No, that doesn't cover it. It was breathtaking. Here's some of my pictures

Here's Dilbert panning for gold. He found a few very small flakes but mostly, he just found the water was extremely cold.

And we spent some time trying out his metal detector (but there was too much junk up there to find anything of value.

A shout out to my Mom and Dad... Here's your car amid the glory :)

DNA Test

2008-10-05T23:41:24Z

Jerry Springer DNA test

What's so hard about having a missionary?

2008-09-25T16:00:26Z

It's been a nice week. I've heard from Frank more in the last 3 weeks than I did in 2 months when he was away at BYU. He called Tuesday morning from the airport, then yesterday we got a package with a letter in it AND his p-day e-mail. He's being so good, writing details and sharing feeling (ugh! to get guys to share their "feelings"!) So here's his latest letter AND his e-mail.

September 24th:

Well, I did. It's about the same here with the weather, but I feel the humidity. It made it hard to get to sleep, because it felt muggy. That might have been the two hour time change however, but even though I couldn't get to sleep till 10:30 Utah time I had to get up at 6:30 Maryland time. The airplane ride was fine, only about 3 hours and I had an empty seat next to me so I had plenty of room. Unfortunately, I was surrounded by missionaries and President Moody's son and grandsons on all other sides and I had to keep my pass along card. President Moody is awesome by the way. I know he's going to be a great mission president. We spent last night at the mission home in Ellicott City. That night and this morning was training. Our preperation day is wednesday by the way, if this letter didn't give that away. After all that was transfer meeting, and I got my trainer. His name is Elder Call. He's from Orem, and went to high school with Chris; you remember Chris? I won't lie, he's a lot easier to get along with than Elder Lee. With Elder Lee I had the rest of the district around most of the time though. My area is Hampstead, in the Columbia Zone. Basically, it covers Reisterville to the PA border North, which is quite a stretch in one direction; making it hard to stay in our miles limit on the car. I'll manage though. We are living in a basement apartment with a member family named Anderson. I've only met Sister Anderson so far, but she was very nice. I met two Elders from the area next to mine, and they were way cool too.
By the way, I can't look at your pictures on the library computers. And my billing zip code for my debit card is still 84604. I'm sorry about the calls from the airport dropping by the way; they have a limit I suppose on how many calls/for how long with one card. It should only come out to about $4 though.
We haven't done much missionary work yet, being preperation day, but I know that it will go well. The Elders here are dedicated to the work and well prepared to school me in the ways of teaching. I thought I got it pretty well at the MTC, but getting out here I realized I haven't begun to know. As time goes on and I realize how little I know, I know more and more that I'm supposed to be here. That there is no greater work than missionary work and in the truth of the Gospel. During transfer meeting the departing Elders bore their testimonies, and I knew that I, like Elder Ajirogi, could speak in two years about my mission like he did his. He said that as he witnessed his last baptism last night that he had had the spirit bear witness to him that he had served an honorable mission, and that the Lord accepted his sacrifice and was pleased with him. These men are spiritual giants; if I can gain even a fraction of the power of their testimonies I'll come back a much better person. I know how important this work is.
When I talked to you at home I didn't get to hear much. What is going on? Did Megan get my message? It wouldn't let me call Hillary or Nikki by the way.
with much love,
Elder Christensen

My Voodoo Doctor

2008-09-24T20:40:46Z

I have been seeing a new doctor, this past week. I've been seeing him regularly.

He's a voodoo doctor, very similar to the one I saw a few years ago who looked just like Donny Osmond and whom I let hold my hand whenever he wanted. My new voodoo doctor, whom I will call Vic, looks like Dan Cortese (please don't ask me why this is important). He also holds my hands but he also holds my feet. And that's surprisingly okay.

Actually, what they (he and his father work together doing their voodoo) were doing was some sort of biomeridian analysis using magnets and magic to tell me why I have become allergic to running. It has been fascinating and I'm sold on it. After running electrical currents through me, and testing my meridian points, he determined which of my bodily systems were wacky (in my case it was my resperitory system and my liver), and he gave me a bunch of supplements and some drops of magic water and told me to go off all my prescriptions except the synthroid. I did it and I feel GREAT. I don't have problems with my blood sugar any more, my BP is normal, rather than icky low like it has been for a long time, and my head is clearer than it has been in ages and I'm not taking 7 different allergy medications. So yeah, I'm a believer. The biggest part that I like is that their philosophy of treating the cause of the symptoms, not the symptoms themselves. It just makes sense to me. If I had a blister on my hand from holding it against an iron, I wouldn't treat the blister, I would remove my hand from the iron. It is just so different from traditional medicine. How weird was it to have a strength test done and by simply touching a meridian point on my body, my strength cand went. It is just freaky voodoo magic.

I'm a Regular.

2008-09-24T20:15:55Z

I got a good laugh out of this article in the New Yorker. You know, just saying I read the New Yorker makes me feel smarter than I really am.
My Gal

Franks flying off to Maryland RIGHT NOW

2008-09-23T15:31:45Z

I got a phone call this morning from Frank. He was at the airport, waiting for his flight to leave. it was so good to hear his voice and to hear him tell me how wonderfully he's doing and how happy he is. His whole zone is going to Baltimore, so he's going to be with these guys for the whole 2 years. They are so excited to remain together. He said he knows they are going to be life-long friends. A few of them are also going to be at the Y when they get back so they're already planning on getting together when they return.

He said it felt like he was only there a few days but that he learned month's worth of knowledge. He got to talk to M, since she hadn't left for school yet (everyone else was already gone). He also called Dilbert. He was going to try to call his sister's cell phones to leave them messages. I hope he had time to do that. They would love it.

I can't wait to see what happens next for him!

Sound of Music Program at BYU

2008-09-22T17:18:22Z

I keep forgetting to mention I got a message on the answering machine last week (Friday) from the college of music at BYU. It was the secretary finally getting back to me about Frank's application to the Sound Recording Program at BYU. She said, "Congratulations. Frank was accepted into the Sound of Music Program" and then she stopped and corrected herself, "I mean the Sound Recording Program in the the College of Music." I thought the first one sounded more fun than the second. Anyway, I meant to blog that a dozen times but forgot by the time I sat down to post. Sheesh!

Have you done it?

2008-09-22T16:20:12Z

The idea of this past post was to highlight the things you have done out of the 200 items on the list. It got me thinking, though, that I should explain some of these things, rather than just indicate that I had done them. As I have time and inclination, I will talk about some of the things I've done and not done...

1. Touched an iceberg: I haven't touched an iceberg yet. But I will because I am determined to take my DH on a cruise to Alaska and you can bet your buttons that I'm gonna HUG an iceberg. In the meantime, I have touched and even slid down a glacier. That's pretty cool, too, you know. My nether-regions was sitting on ice that has been there for thousands of years. I did it when I was about 13 years old and I hiked up Mt. Timpanogus with a group of youth from Bountiful. It was a long hike, but I'll never forget how amazing it was to cross the saddle and realize I was at the highest point of a mountain. It was breathtaking and frightening. To get down, we slid down the glacier, bypassing a 2 hour hike back down. I remember how painful the hike down was on my knees. I've not repeated the hike since because of my unforgiving joints.
2. Slept under the stars: When I was a kid, we used to sleep out with our cousins regularly. That was back in the good-ol'-days when you could see stars. How sad it is to me that I have to take my kids on a far off vacation so they can actually see how many stars are in the sky! Anyway, sleeping out was always fun because of the fear factor. We would bed down in our coleman sleeping bags (with the flannel lining that always smelled disturbingly remotely like urine), Off repellent stinging in our eyes. Oh yeah, we learned the hard way that you had to put it close to your eyes or you awakened with huge puffy bug-bitten eyelids. We would lie on our backs, gazing at all the stars and get as philosophical as an 8 year-old could get. Sometimes we could hear cyoties howling in the distance. That was always exciting. Most often, though, the most excitement we got was when the sprinklers went off on us. Something I should point out is that we didn't have automatic sprinklers.
3. Been a part of a hockey fight: why would I want this? Unless it was a hockey fight with the Barenaked Ladies. That would be fun!
4. Changed a baby's diaper: If I had a penny for every diaper I've changed! Blech! And the stories I could tell! **if you are squeamish with this topic, do not read any further** As a matter of fact, just the other day I was telling my kids how you could tell you were a REAL mom... That was if you could WEAR your kid's poop on you and not freak out (of course it is never by choice, it just happens and you deal with it). My favorite story, though, was Dilbert's. He had changed a newborn diaper and then went to eat his sandwich. He picked it up to eat it when he noticed some mustard had gotten on the heel of his hand. His first instinct was to lick it off, but just in time he realized it was NOT mustard.
5. Watched a meteor shower: so cool to sit outside and watch the shooting stars by the hundreds. But, like I said in #2, it is hard to do nowadays.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity: There's been a few times when I've sent stuff to the DI and then realized I sent the WRONG bag. I hate it when that happens.
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain: See #1. Actually, I do this often, as I live in Utah an the mountains are RIGHT HERE. I love to hike, especially if there's a waterfall at the end of the day.
9. Held a tarantula: I haven't done it, but I've made my children do it (see previous posts)
10. Said "I love you" and meant it: Daily. Duh--I'm a wife and mother.
11. Bungee jumped: and never gonna do it, either.
12. Visited Paris: not yet, but maybe. My nephew just got called on his mission to Paris. Oh lala!
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea: Living in Fort Lauderdale for 4 1/2 years gave me ocean experiences I would never trade. I love sitting on the beach, watching the waves crash. My funnest vacation has been our trip to Newport OR where is stormed the entire time.
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise: I did the sunrise on the beach thing in Fort Lauderdale with elle_cossette (remember that?) But I've done the all night thing many times with Dilbert. Utah has amazing sunrises.
15. Seen the Northern Lights: On my list of things to do while in Alaska. I MUST see this.

My date with Dilbert

2008-09-22T15:35:43Z

Friday was FUN. Besides having M's birthday party here, Dilbert took me on an adventure. We went west of Tooele, to the old California Trail where pioneers passed through the west desert on their way to California. It was so remote, I can't even tell you! We could see for hundreds of miles and there was no one, not a town or a house or a road to be seen. All there was was dessert and trails. And the quiet... It was amazing there are still places so remote. I took some pictures but my camera was being weird and the pictures didn't make it home with me. I viewed them while we were up there, but when I got home to put them on the computer, they were gone. Sort of like a Twilight Zone, isn't it.

This is google earth's satelite picture of where we were...

Dilbert took his fancy metal detector and we went out in search of relics. First we stopped in a steep canyon. Dilbert's thinking was if they were coming through that canyon, the steepest parts would be places where wagons would have rolled, and that would be a good place to look for evidence of their passage. We didn't find much of anything except barbed wire and bullet casings so we continued down the trail. We came to a little canyon with a large, flat open area. We figured a wagon train would stop there for the night so Dilbert went out in search... It didn't take him too long before he found a large "oxen" shoe (we are assuming it is oxen because it is way too big to be a horseshoe). We searched the rest of the area but only found a few horseshoe nails, some sort of tie-down (in the picture with the shoe), a 1998 nickel, some tent stakes and a piece of costume jewelery.

But we did find a tailing pile from an old mine. With some careful inspection, we were able to find the mine shaft, mostly caved in, but still accessible. There was a strong, cold draft coming from the opening. Dilbert threw a rock down the shaft to see how deep it was, but it was too hard to tell how far down it went. I couldn't be persuaded to explore it any further i.e. go in it (I have children at home, for pete's sake!).

What do you think... was I being a scaredy cat?

It took us about 2 hours to cover the field and by then it was time to head home for M's party but it was a nice day. The biggest thing I learned, though, is I am EXTREMELY glad I wasn't a pioneer. It was hot and dry and barren and rocky and extremely buggy and I wouldn't want to have to walk through it, let alone camp there. I was extremely grateful to get into my comfy air-conditioned Pilot and drive home!

Photo Meme - take a picture of yourself right this second, don't do anything to it, post it.

2008-09-22T01:14:41Z

Instructions:
* Take a picture of yourself right now. Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair - just take a picture.
* Post that picture with NO editing.
* Post these instructions with the picture.