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.

Outnumbered!!

Come November I will be outnumbered! That's because we are having a little BOY and we couldn't be more excited!!! Since probably high school I've said I'd like to have a boy first. I have all sisters and growing up I always wished I had had an older brother, so I thought it would be fun to have a boy first so that the rest of our kids would have an older brother :)

I guess we should come clean..haha. We've actually known it was a boy since our first ultrasound at 14 weeks. The tech was pretty sure it was a boy, but we wanted to wait until we were a little more sure. We didn't want to have to go back to everyone and say "Oh never mind..."

Yep! It's a boy..haha!

His little feeties!

His little profile. You can see his spine so well!

My dad and Amber have been on a Colorado River trip through the Grand Canyon with some of my extended family until tomorrow (my dad got to take Amber since she wasn't old enough when the rest of us went several years ago), so my mom has been home by herself all week. It was weird to only be announcing to her..haha. We went over with a blue onesie to announce! Then we called Jill and Amy in Provo and even Jen in Africa!!

I have also posted 2 ultrasound videos if you're interested!

This first one shows baby's profile.

This next one is pretty funny! It shows baby's bum bum and boy parts (looking up)..haha. Trent thinks our poor baby is going to be pretty embarrassed one day with the first picture I posted and this video. Oh boy!

I am now 19 weeks along and feeling good! It looks like baby boy is growing and developing just the way he should, for which we are so grateful. I'm definitely starting to show so I'll post a picture in a few days!

I'm headed off to Provo with my mom in the morning! We'll meet Dad and Amber there and get to spend the next several days with Jill and Amy before Amy goes into the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on WEDNESDAY! I'm just bummed that Trent can't come along too :( This will be our first time being separated since we got married 3 years ago!! But I'm really looking forward to getting out of this ridiculous heat and spending time with the fam bam!

Scripture Power

A few weeks ago we picked up some new scriptures for me. Trent actually got me new scriptures for my 22nd birthday, but they didn't have the snap on them like I wanted. Deseret Book didn't have them in stock anywhere in Utah (at least in blue) when Trent went to purchase them, so he settled on ones without the snap. Well I knew I wouldn't be happy if I just settled, so they have been sitting around, unopened, with us for a year a half. They even endured our move down here..haha.

Like I said, a few weeks ago Trent spotted the scriptures I've been wanting! And last week I was able to get them engraved! I love them!

Check out these beauties!

I love how shiny and new they are :)

I got my last scriptures as a gift from my grandparents back when I was baptized when I was 8. They were pretty well marked up and written all over and some of my notes in them were a little embarrassing..haha. I love that I now have a fresh, clean slate (if you will) to work with, especially now that I'm older and a bit wiser. I have been so excited to start studying and marking them up :)

If you haven't ever had a chance to read these (particularly the Book of Mormon), I would encourage you to do so. I know they are true! If you need access to some scriptures just let me know.

Tonight I was reading King Benjamin's (love him!) speech in Mosiah chapter 2. I love verses 20 through 22. They say:

20 "I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another--

21 "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

22 "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."

I am so grateful for such a loving, giving, mindful Heavenly Father and know that I am "eternally indebted" (verse 34) to Him. The least I can do is serve Him and keep His commandments.

As Of Late

This last week Amy was in town for a final trip before she heads off on her mission.

Saturday we ate at Sweet Cakes Cafe in Mesa (their cinnamon rolls were featured on TLC's Best Food Ever!) and did a little shopping.

We got this picture for Jill. Her boyfriend is Drew..haha.

Sunday, Father's Day, our family was pretty involved in sacrament meeting. Amy gave a farewell talk (I know we don't really call them that anymore). She wasn't too thrilled since she doesn't know a single person in our ward..haha. Then I gave the closing prayer and Amber played postlude music.

Dad with 3 of his 5 girls :)

*We love you Dad and are so grateful for you and how you so willingly support our family!*

Tuesday we got to go through the temple with Amy. It was a very nice experience. Unfortunately Mom was the only one to get a picture afterwards because we were trying to be quick and get out of the heat ASAP!

That evening Mom made a nice dinner and we did s'mores. Amy had been talking about doing them all week and we finally got around to them the night before she left. My parents don't have a gas stove, propane for their outdoor grill, or a fire pit so we made do with one of those itty bitty jars of petroleum jelly (I believe) that came in a survival kit..haha.

You can see our little tiny jar of a flame..ha

Amy gave Haddie a haircut and totally botched it. Poor girl! See that big dark section? Yeah that's pretty much to her skin (yes her skin is darker than her hair). My mom made Amy stop when she noticed, so now Haddie has a funky bald spot..haha.

Amy was off to Virginia (home sweet home!) yesterday and the rest of us usuals (Mom, Dad, Amber, Trent, and I) got to go to the circus last night! Trent and I were really looking forward to this because we read "Water for Elephants", and saw the movie, and really enjoyed both. The circus came to the stadium where the Suns play!

At the very beginning we all stood and sang the national anthem. I loved how they dressed the elephant :)

These next two pictures are of the Grand Spec (I'm assuming from "Water for Elephants") - the big opening scene.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. It was hard to get good pictures because we were up pretty high!

Here were the zebras and horses.

Not a great picture, but here was the tightrope.

They had many people get on it at the same time and they'd jump over each other!

They had lots of tigers!

This last tiger hopped kind of like Tigger..haha. It was hilarious!

My favorite part was probably the elephants (and the gymnasts, but I couldn't get good pictures of them because they were moving so fast!), hence all of the pictures! They were so funny and just all seemed to have such personality. Whenever they had to move to a new position (or when they walked on and off the court) they would grab the tail of the elephant in front of them. I would always notice the ones who couldn't quite reach the other's tail and they just seemed to get so frustrated. It reminded me of siblings who are expected to hold hands when out and about..haha.

There wasn't really a good time for Trent and I to get a picture while we were there, and then we split up from my family pretty suddenly because of the crowds (plus we parked separately). I insisted on a picture though so we got one in the car before heading home..haha.

I really loved our time at the circus! We'll definitely have to take our kids someday! I think every child should have that opportunity.

In other news, we find out what baby is in ONE WEEK, as in next Thursday! Any guesses as to whether it'll be a boy or girl? Pretty much my whole family seems to think it'll be a girl. We shall see!