I have really wanted to get into photography lately and can't stop thinking about it nor talking about it. I visit numerous photography websites and blogs each day and just day dream. I try my hardest to be creative with my little 5megapixle Samsung; however, I am usually disappointed. Well yesterday Wade finally took the plunge and surprised me with a Canon Rebel XSi. I love it... I love him!! Although there is so much I don't really know yet, I am learning. I am halfway through reading the manual, then I'll move onto the software, then more online tutorials. If anyone knows anything about photography and wants to give me advice or tips, you are more than welcome to tell me or even show me!!! I am so excited!!! Can you tell how excited I am? I am so excited!!!
This is what my new camera looks like! The flash pops up when you use it.
Last night I began reading me manual intently. I've learned a lot so far, but I still have a long way to go!
Today, I took a few pictures in the park. If you enlarge this picture, you can see Aubrey's 2 beautiful teeth. They make her look mean huh?
As you may know, I have started doing a little bit of sewing with Wade's Aunt and cousins. A couple of weeks ago, I made a Valentine's Day Table runner. We invited friends over for dinner, so I could show off my new piece of Art. The following week, I worked on making an apron. After completing that project, I was so proud of myself. I even wore it all the way home from Idaho Falls, because I loved it so much. I love creating awesome things from virtually nothing. I can't wait to find out what I will create this week!
...THE TABLE RUNNER....
Wade's Aunt just let me use her material for this project; and , I absolutely love how it turned out!
I even quilted the hearts and boxes so it would show through on the backside.
I bet you've never seen a more beautiful table runner.
...THE APRON...
As it is probably obvious, this is my favorite project yet. Pleated ruffles, reverse patterns, and more. I can't believe I made that.
I even was good enough to pick out and buy my own materials on this project.
I'm all ready to bake!!
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I just thought this was a cute picture of Aubrey being a Mommy's girl. When I get ready in the mornings, I let Aubrey sit on the counter in front of me and help me get ready. She loves playing with all the cool makeup inside that little purple bag. ------------------------------------------------------ Last weekend, friends of our invited us to go spend the weekend with them and another couple up in their cabin. We had to take a snow machine up to the cabin, because the snow was so deep and no cars could get out there. That was Aubrey's first time riding on a snow mobile. She was a little concerned at first, but in the end she loved it. That night, we made some pizzas, played some ping-pong, and just hung out. The next morning, we all bundled up, including Aubrey, to go sledding. This was Aubrey's first time ever sledding and Wade and I got to go down with her! While Aubrey took a nap after the sledding fun, we found some snow drift cliffs and jumped off them. It was so much fun and we all had a blast!!!
Aubrey all bundled, ready to go sledding!
Me and Aubrey enjoying the cool, crisp air and beautiful view.
Aubrey's first time snowmobiling, she got to ride on a sled pulled behind the mobile. After sledding, she fell asleep on my should as we just cruised around the property.
Wade, jumping/rolling down a drift cliff! --------------------------------------------------------
...OUR JOY!...
Aubrey is getting so big now! Besides her two teeth, she is half crawling and half scooting across the floor! She now completely pulls herself up on our chairs and the couch. She loves her sippy cup, even if (especially if) most of the water gets on her. She has such a fun personality. Wade and I like to play tricks on her and pull her binky out of her mouth, and instead of crying, she smiles real big. Now we catch her all the time doing the same thing to herself. She bites down on her binky and pulls it out to make a popping noise, then she precedes to smile. I could go on and on about how awesome our baby is but, I've already have rambled on long enough. We love everyone and miss you all. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
This month has lots of fun so far! We are pretty settled into our house and Aubrey is growing up so fast. I have begun to fill my empty time with fun things. I have started going to water aerobics and I am learning how to sew with Wade's Aunt. I just finished my first project last week-- a Valentine's table runner. This Valentine's day was so much fun to be able to spend it with Aubrey. I will explain more details of this month's excitement with all of the pictures... enjoy!
Our laundry room is out in the garage so when I do laundry without Wade home, I bundle Aubrey up and let her help me. This picture reminds me of a "Where's Waldo" picture with how much she blends in and especially with the hat.
Our friends invited us to go to a local "Extreme Makeover" that the community of Rexburg put together... They chose a deserving woman in our community and treated her to new clothing, hairstyle, gym membership, and teeth whiting. We went the revealing which consisted of free food, giveaways and dancing. It was here that Aubrey got her first balloon. She loved it!
She kept pulling on the string and the balloon would bump her in the head so she'd get more excited and flap her arms and it kept hitting her more and more. She looks so tiny and far away in this picture compared to the balloon.
We all dressed up for the event, and Aubrey looked so precious.
Aubrey loves to be propped up and leaned on something so she can stand. Soon enough she'll be able to get herself in that position.
When I go to water aerobics Wade watches Aubrey, he keeps her engaged and happy by playing Rockband with her. She even moved her arm as if she is playing the drums too! ----------------------------------------------------------
"Silent Night" We finally were able to take Aubrey to her doctor's appointment to get her second set of shots. When we were there, I let the doctor know that she still wakes up to nurse at night. He told me that at this age she should be sleeping through the night and that she can go 8-12 hours without eating. Wade and I decided it was time to give it a try. We fed her really well before bed time, kissed her goodnight, and put her in her crib. Meanwhile, Wade and I slept out in the living room so we wouldn't give in. That night, she cried for 2-3 hours. At first I wasn't convinced this was easier because if I were to nurse her she'd go back to bed. However, we stuck to our guns and let her cry it out. The second night she only cried for 30-60min. The third night, no cries at all. Every night since, we have all slept like babies!
After the first night of crying, I went to check on her in the morning. When i first looked in her crib, I didn't see her, my heart sunk for a moment. Then rolled up in the corner, I saw her sleeping soundly.
Each night, she moves less and less. Last night, she was still partially swaddled.
In addition, to sleeping through the night, Aubrey is super close to crawling, and her first two teeth are coming in and the tips have broken through the bottom of her gums! She is growing up so fast, we can't believe it! When her teeth are more noticeable, I'll be sure to post pictures of her new pearly whites! ----------------------------------------------------------- You call this Valentine's Day Weekend?
Because of Wade's Candy Grams business, I don't ever want to see roses, cookies, or cards again! This past weekend, our house became the workshop to put all the candy grams together. Starting Thursday night, there were people coming in and out of my house until Saturday evening. Roses filled my sink, cookies lined my apartment and counter tops, and cards were sprawled all over my table. What was once a sweet way to express your love to someone, quickly became a cliche commodity in our home.
We packaged around 500 cookies!
Prepared 250 roses!
Individually, hand wrote 100+ cards! Delivered, 100+ deliveries!!!! Boy, were we exhausted! (you can kind of see my table runner in this picture, but I'll definitely post more pictures of that)
After we kicked everyone out of our house on Saturday evening, we turned off the lights, locked the doors, and headed to Olive Garden. We enjoyed a wonderful evening together and had a Happy Valentine's Day After all! On Monday, Wade's Uncle actually took us snowmobiling and we had a blast. It was worth all the stress to enjoy the snowmobile rides. -------------------------------------------------------------- Aubrey's First V-Day was a good one for her too!
With all the roses, we gave Aubrey her very first Rose for Valentine's day! She didn't know what to do with it, she tried eating it, pulling it, and playing with it... but she loved it anyway! Doesn't she look like such a doll in this picture?
What a pretty rose!
We had tons of rose petals from all of the roses, so we scattered them around Aubrey and took some pictures!
After Aubrey mauled her rose, we opened up the petals and made it a flower for her headband. It was way cute, but way too big!
She knows how to please the camera!
On Tuesday morning, Aubrey got another Valentine's Day gift! She got a card, letter, and picture from her cousins Brenton and Aleigha! She love eating the card and holding the picture. Thank you so much Aleigha and Brenton!
After playing with these V-day gifts, we heard the mail man put something else in our box... what could it be?....
... It was a package from Grandma and Grandpa from WV. What a lucky girl.
Inside the package, was some long lost pants and a pacifier, and another Valentine from Grandma and Grandpa; this time, there was a lollipop attached to the card.
We couldn't help but let Aubrey at least try her first lollipop; so I put a bib on her and let her go to town. She new exactly what to do with it and she loved it, loved it, loved it!!! Of course we didn't let her eat the whole thing but she did try it out! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa! We hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day too!
Wade is currently taking an entrepreneurship class this semester. His group is doing a project called the "100 dollar challenge." They are to make a small micro management business starting with $100 and then make that $100 back. His group's business is called CandyGrams Inc.. He and I worked on a blog for his business last night; it's pretty swanky if you ask me. So if you are in Rexburg and want to help Wade out and order your loved one a CandyGram visit us at: www.candygramsinc.blogspot.com You could also temporarily add our blog to your favorites list so his blog is visible to more Rexburg residents. Thanks to you all!
Even if you are not in Rexburg and want to check out our blog and tell us how awesome we are you are welcome to do that as well.
The other morning, we woke up to several inches of snow on the ground. At first, this was somewhat discouraging because we are getting tired of the snow; however, we decided to make the best of it. We borrowed a few sleds, a tow rope, called up some friends, and headed out to find some unplowed roads. After a few minutes of driving we found the most ideal location in town. It was a newly built park that had several roads circling it and park lights that illuminated our path. It was perfect, noone was around except us and the snow. We spent 1 to 2 hours pulling each other around behind our truck. It was probably the most fun we have had in a long time. We can't wait until it snows so we can go again. Our friends Brittney and Jason came with us and fortunately Brittney took several pictures. We have some videos too but I had trouble downloading them; hopefully, they will come in the near future.
Some of you may wonder, "What do they do with Aubrey when they do crazy stuff like this?" Well, the answer is simple, We take her with us. Our family motto has always been to never let anything slow us down, just find creative things to do that can include our children too.
Wade and Jason had so much fun. The two of them laughed so hard the entire time. At times it we could hardly see the people we were pulling because of all the snow that that we were being plowed through.
Wade brought his snowboard with him so he could practice "wake boarding" for this summer!
Katie and Jason being pulled by the car.
"It's all fun and games until....
..... someone looses a glove-- or should I say a body!"
Wade and Jason began plotting their next "hookie bobbin'" adventure before we even left.
Unfortunately, Brittney was behind the camera in all the shots; however, she and I had a blast double hookie bobbin' together. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Stay tuned for more Crazy Christensen Adventures!
This is what my new camera looks like! The flash pops up when you use it.
Last night I began reading me manual intently. I've learned a lot so far, but I still have a long way to go!
Today, I took a few pictures in the park. If you enlarge this picture, you can see Aubrey's 2 beautiful teeth. They make her look mean huh?
It was fun taking these pictures, but cold too!
