My Favorite Place

Wow, I can't believe I only posted here twice during July. I was gone most of the month and a lot of the time I didn't have access to internet. Have you missed me? Haha

Trent and I got back Saturday evening around midnight from this beautiful haven -

This is my grandparents' lake house on Canandaigua Lake in New York and it is honestly, probably, my favorite place in the world! I got to go for 2 weeks and Trent came a few days after me and got to be there for a week and a half. The first week was the Whitmore family reunion (my mom's side of the family) and the second week was just my immediate family's reunion.

I've been kind of putting off this blog post because I've been overwhelmed with how many pictures I have, so I'm going to split my trip into 2 blog posts - the first week and the second week.

So, first, the Whitmore family reunion took place from Sunday, July 17 - Saturday the 23rd.

Like I said, this post and the next will have a whole lot of pictures. I hope you enjoy them. And trust me, these are definitely not all of them!

I didn't really start taking pictures until Wednesday. Monday evening, though, Grandma took all of the grandkids to Barnes & Noble so we could each get a book, a tradition my grandpa had. Naturally I got a pregnancy-related book - On Becoming Babywise - which basically teaches new parents how to get their baby on a schedule for eating and sleeping, in turn helping the baby to sleep through the night quicker. Many friends have just raved about it so I couldn't pass it up. Thanks Gram!

Now for the pictures!

This year was a little different for me at the lake house because since, of course, I'm pregnant, I couldn't do the things I usually participate in on the lake. I had a great time just relaxing and watching everyone else though :)

Myself with a bunch of cousins in the lake.

Amber, Amanda, Jordan, and Paige on the Wave Runner. We use it a lot when the boat's out to switch out people.

Jen and Meg got back from Africa on Wednesday after about 3 months!!

Meg still had her braid extensions in.

Many of us helped her take them all out. Here are Eve, Meg, Jen, and Tori.

Thursday Blaine planned our annual "Olympics" where we get split into 2 teams and compete in several relays. Of course Trent and I were put on opposite teams..haha.

Both teams always come up with a name and cheer first. My team's name was The Chosen Ones.

Here we are during our cheer. I think either Tori or Kyle were saying their part..ha.

Who knows!

Trent's team was the Volumptuous Voldemorts (team that must not be named). Obviously both teams had references to Harry Potter..ha.

Here they are during their cheer.

During the first relay you and a partner had to fill a cup with water and run it down using only your heads, butts, or thighs (if that makes any sense) and dump it in the bucket at the end. It was pretty funny!

Here are cuties Greyson and Cameron, from my team, with the cup (it's clear) between their heads :)

And then Trent and Jen (HA) from the other team. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with the cup between butts or thighs so you could see..ha. In the background though, on the left, you can see Brittany and Amber preparing for the thigh one. Melissa and I did the butt one :)

I couldn't really participate in any of the other Olympic events. This one was a breath-holding competition. Trent impressed everyone with how long he could hold his breath. His team totally beat my team.

This event was human foosball :) They're all holding yardsticks or something.

There were 3 other events, but I didn't get any pictures. My team ended up winning the whole thing, but luckily this year people didn't take it too seriously (like past years). And everyone got a candy bar prize :)

Later that day we went out on the boat.

This was during one of our "swim breaks" :)

I only put this one up b/c of Jill's funny pose..ha

Rick took Mom and Meg out on the sailboat. I love that Mom's waving at the camera..haha

And then Jen later.

I don't know if you can tell, but in this picture there are lots of little heads in the water (I was taking this from up on the deck so I was pretty far away). The "little kids" (who are now teenagers, such as Amber, but we can't seem to stop calling them that) often jump off the tubes behind the boat before it comes into the dock and swim the rest of the way home.

Friday evening Grandma took us all out to Abbott's for custard/ice cream.

Here I am with Jordan, Jill, Melissa, Jen, Tori, Meg, and Bryn. Beauties!

Trent and I (and baby) :)

When we got home Jen and Meg gave us a report on their adventures in Africa! They did some great service there.

This was also the night that Trent felt our baby kick for the first time. As cheesy as it sounds, it was truly magical. Both of our eyes just lit up :) And I got a little teary-eyed of course. The next day I noticed for the first time that I can see baby move around inside of me now. It's so neat!!

Saturday, the final day, we (well I didn't participate) had a mini triathlon. It consisted of a 75-yard swim (from our dock to the neighbor's dock), 1 mile bike ride, and 1/2 mile run. My family is pretty competitive so it was pretty intense. I helped as a timer :)

Here are Melissa and Tabitha preparing to swim.

Scott biking.

John running. Look at all of that green! LOVE it and miss it! I'm an East Coast girl all the way ;)

That evening we finished off the reunion by playing Minute to Win It games.

Brittany and Sawyer had to separate as many M&M's by color as they could in a minute.

Bryn, Hayden, and Amber had to stack as many Ding Dongs on their foreheads as they could.

Trent and Jen had to keep 3 balloons up in the air for a minute. I was laughing so hard I was crying while watching Trent. It seems so easy, but Trent's best time was like 11 seconds..haha. Way harder than it looks!

Amanda and Courtney had to knock down four glasses with a tennis ball wrapped around their waist. This is kind of a funny shot!

Tori and I had to shoot the coaster down the table (it's a long table) and knock a cup off the other end as many times as we could in a minute.

And lastly, Jill and Melissa had to stack as many cups as they could without falling in a minute.

Woo, I made it! This post took me forever! The reunion was great as always and I'm grateful for my grandma's generosity in letting us all stay at her lake house. We can't get enough of it!

Stay tuned for my next post on my immediate family's reunion.

Did You Know...

Trent and I watched Big Fish last night and I learned an interesting fact from it about the common goldfish..haha. (Good movie by the way!)

If kept in a small bowl the goldfish will remain small (its growth becomes stunted). With more space the fish will grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.

I never knew that! Trent had heard it before. I almost want to do an experiment and get two goldfish and put one in a fishbowl and the other in a tank and then see if the one in the tank grows to be bigger than the one in the fishbowl.

Almost.

By the way, as of yesterday I am halfway through my pregnancy (20 weeks)! I can't believe it! It's flying by! At the same time it's also weird that I still have the same amount of time left in my pregnancy that I've already had being pregnant. (Wow! That makes complete sense in my head and out loud, but it's hard to express in writing.) I really think November will be here before I know it though!

Sister Christensen

I mentioned at the end of my last post that my family and I headed up to Utah for our final get-together with Amy before she was off on her mission.

My mom and I drove in on Friday and didn't get in until around 10 p.m. We caught up with Amy and Jill a little bit and then were off to bed. We were pretty wiped out!

Saturday, my dad, Amber and the Clark's (cousins) drove in from Vegas from the river trip that I mentioned in my last post. We ate a quick dinner (at Dairy Queen..haha) and then got to go to the Stadium of Fire :) It is put on every year in the BYU football stadium.

It was a little long for me and my pregnant self (we were pretty packed in there), but all in all it was a really fun time!

At the very beginning some parachuters jumped out of a plane way, way up in the sky. They were very patriotic! They each landed in the stadium while "I'm Proud To Be An American" was playing. I felt very proud in this moment, as cheesy as that sounds. Everyone was so united :)

You can see 3 of the tiny parachuters in this picture. One has the flag with him.

So beautiful!

We then all got to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance together and sing the national anthem.

Then the performances began. There were dancers throughout the night.

Amy, Jill, Amber, and I. Just missing Jen. The Clark's were sitting a row in front of us.

David Archuleta performed next. We were pretty far away so he looks tiny.

Jimmer sent a message over the webcam :)

Lastly Brad Paisley performed.

And then the fireworks began! And they were just incredible! So well done! They had the fireworks synchronized with music at some parts. So cool!

Here's just one picture since fireworks pictures never turn out quite right. I won't bore you with anymore!

During much of the fireworks the dancers were performing and ended up positioning themselves as the Statue of Liberty.

Family picture at the end, minus my mom (and Jen). Mom left the stadium and waited in the concessions area during Brad Paisley because it was too loud for her..haha. She's getting old ;)

Sunday (I didn't get any pictures) we went to church, ate, napped, spent quality time together, watched "Return to Me" and played cards. Just an easy-going Sunday :)

Monday, the 4th, we walked down to the Provo parade for a little bit. There were some pretty impressive floats!

We also got to talk to Jen in Africa via Skype for a while and we did some shopping.

These next pictures probably seem random, but Jill has a bird's nest down in her garage with new birdies. You all know how I love little birdies from this post last year :)

Look at how tiny they are! 5 little birdies crammed in a nest waiting to be fed!

That evening we actually didn't bother going to fireworks because we got to see them Saturday at the stadium. We ended up going out to frozen yogurt after dinner and then played cards again :) Always a fun time!

We played Nerts and Kemps. It got intense! This is the only picture I have with Bryn and Tori in it and we're not even looking at the camera. Whoops!

Tuesday was the day before Amy went into the MTC so she was making her rounds saying good-bye to friends and taking care of her final preparations before her mission. We packed up the car since she had to be moved out of her apartment the next day.

That evening we had a final family dinner at a cute new waffle and crepe stand in Provo called Awful Waffle and then we were off to have Amy set apart (given a special blessing to name her a sister missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Me and my little bump at about 19 1/2 weeks, before we were off to dinner.

I prefer this picture because it's outside and so pretty and green, but you can't see my bump as well..haha.

Amy was given such a beautiful blessing. It had me crying by the end, hence the pink nose in the picture below. I can't believe she's a missionary now!

My dad and I got changed, said our good-byes to Amy, and got into the car to drive through the night back to AZ. We made it home yesterday morning at 6. My mom and Amber are still in Provo because Amber is finishing up a BYU lacrosse camp she participated in this week.

Yesterday my mom, Jill, and Amber dropped off Amy at the MTC. I guess tears were shed :( None of us can stop thinking about Amy. We can't wait to read her first email! She will spend about 3 weeks in the MTC and then head to California to serve the people of Carlsbad :)

We are all so proud of Amy and know she will do great work!

She would love to hear from anyone who is willing to write. You can find her address in the info section of her Facebook. Let me know if you don't have Facebook and I can get her address to you.